If you are a permanent resident of NJ and your only PA income is wages, you will only need to file an NJ resident state income
tax return to report all income (including your PA-source wages). You will not
have to file a PA nonresident state income tax return (unless you had PA
withholdings (see below)).
NJ and PA have what
is called a state reciprocal agreement. This allows nonresidents to not have
state withholding taxes taken out for wages earned in the state.
Since you will not have an NJ state income tax filing,
just check that you selected "no" to " Did you make money in any
other states?" under the Personal Information section in TurboTax (see
screenshots)
You can get rid of a
state without clearing your federal return by just deleting the state from your
list of states under the "State Taxes" tab.
Please note that you
will not have a delete option until you actually start working on the state.
Select that you want to start the state return under the state taxes tab. The
system will start calculating. Then go back into the state tab at the top of the
screen and you should now get a choice for that state to either continue or
delete. You won't be charged for just starting the state return. You would only
be charged (if applicable) when you are getting ready to file.
In order to get the
full refund of your PA state income tax withholdings, you will need to file a
nonresident PA return but report zero "0" income from PA (even though
you do have PA wage income). You need to file your PA return this way because
NJ does not allow a credit for tax paid to a reciprocal state on wages,
salaries and commissions. If tax was withheld by a reciprocal state (PA), you
must file directly with the state for a refund of those taxes. You must mail in
this PA nonresident state income tax return and include your state W-2
information. You will want to include an explanatory statement with your PA
return stating your situation (that your PA employer withheld PA taxes from
your wages in error due to a reciprocal agreement with NJ).
