Recently moved from NYC to upstate NY. While filing taxes was asked to allocate New York Income but I do no know what that means

[DDollar · Accepted solution]

You need to indicate how much of your income you earned while living in New York City - that would be allocating it.  You only want to pay city taxes on the income you earned while working/living in the city.  Income you earned while working/living upstate is not taxable by the city, but you have to tell the program how much belongs to each category (i.e. allocate).

[darlene13]

How do I figure out how to allocate my Taxable Interest and Dividend Income to the city? Do I have to go through and calculate how much I received in dividends payments before the date I moved from NYC to upstate?

[MarilynG1]

@darlene13 Yes, you would need to Allocate your Interest and Dividend income for the amount of time you lived in New York City for a NYC tax return. 

You can take the total amount, divide by 12, then multiply by number of months you lived in NYC to determine the New York City portion, since it is all New York State income. 

Click this link for more info on Allocating Unearned Income.

[3m0z]

Wouldn't this only be valid if dividends were disbursed evenly throughout the year?

You'd have to pore through 1099-DIV transaction dates to calculate this, no?

[PattiF]

Dividends are usually disbursed evenly throughout the year. Most companies pay every quarter. Occasionally, there are unexpected dividends. The stock or mutual fund announces the date of dividends on its website. You would need to look at the transaction dates to calculate this.

@3m0z