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Level 1
posted Feb 18, 2021 9:25:50 PM

Remote W-2 Consultant - How To Claim Zero Tax Liability to Colorado

Hi all,

 

I am a permanent resident of Washington state (obviously no state income tax).  I work as a temporary W-2 contractor for a recruiting firm based in Virginia.  They  basically "match" me with a client hospital in Colorado state, and I have been working with this Colorado hospital client for all of 2020.  The important part is that I worked 100% remotely from my home in Washington state for the entire year.  I did not travel or physically work in Colorado at all.

 

The issue is....I had Colorado withholding on my paycheck in 2020 for an amount of around $8,500.  In talking to my CPA attorney brother-in-law, he said I will absolutely get ALL that back.  I am not liable for Colorado state taxes if I worked remotely in WA state, and I guess it was my consulting company "being lazy" (his words) by not figuring this out on the front end.

 

My question - what do I need to enter or do in TurboTax (and on which form) to show that I have zero tax liability to Colorado, and thus be able to see a CO refund of $8,500 in TurboTax?

 

I did find a discussion on TurboTax similar to my issue, and I am especially interested in this part that states:

"If preparing a nonresident return solely to recover erroneous tax withholdings, enter 0 on the screen that asks for the amount of income earned in that state. This will eliminate your tax liability for that state, resulting in a full refund".

 

However, I cannot find WHERE to do this above...?  Basically, I need to see my CO Refund box turn green in TurboTax and zoom up to $8,500.  I almost had a professional tax individual do my taxes this year just because of this issue, but I am thinking this is easy in TurboTax, and I am just missing something simple.

 

Thanks!

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1 Best answer
Expert Alumni
Feb 22, 2021 7:07:19 PM

You need to file a CO non-resident return. I am guessing your W2 has CO income and tax on it. We need to let CO know that you were not there and the income is not taxable to them.

  • Go to state
  • select CO
  • verify residency is nonresident.
  • Go to Income section
  • Edit
  • Continue
  • CO portion of wages
  • Enter a zero in the CO box
  • continue
  • Business income, etc, all should be a zero for CO income.

1 Replies
Expert Alumni
Feb 22, 2021 7:07:19 PM

You need to file a CO non-resident return. I am guessing your W2 has CO income and tax on it. We need to let CO know that you were not there and the income is not taxable to them.

  • Go to state
  • select CO
  • verify residency is nonresident.
  • Go to Income section
  • Edit
  • Continue
  • CO portion of wages
  • Enter a zero in the CO box
  • continue
  • Business income, etc, all should be a zero for CO income.