Should I file my state taxes in PA or KY?

[zach64]

I am a UKY graduate student who lives in KY 365 days of the year but I have a PA drivers license for insurance purposes and am a PA resident for this reason. KY and PA are not reciprocal states so, filing as a PA resident means that I would pay both KY and PA state taxes. According to the KY 740-NP directions (attached), living in KY for more than 184 days, even if you are not domiciled, means you can file as a resident and I also I do not have any PA W2 forms so should I just filed as a KY resident and, if I do, should I just not file anything for PA?

[MichaelL1 · Accepted solution]

You are a non-resident of KY being a full time student there.

You would;

1) Prepare the Federal Return

2) Prepare the non-resident KY return

3) Do a resident PA return reporting all your income (including what you earned in KY) and take a credit for taxes paid to another state (KY).

Students are considered as living in state they have residency established while away at school, which in your case is PA.

[zach64]

even though I haven't physically lived in PA since 2016 and did not make any money there either? and if I follow your instructions, there is a series of check boxes that come up at the end of the PA state return section that state things like "You earned income in another state." and "You were a resident of PA working in another state or country and your employer did not withhold PA income tax." would I check both of those? and if i do, it tells me to create a statement. What do I put as a statement for that?

[MichaelL1]

Yes, and Yes, "Student in KY that kept PA residency while away at school."

[re2boys]

As a PA resident, you are also required to file and pay your home municipality's local earned income tax if you have W2 or self employment income.  I'm not sure what you mean by "insurance purposes"  but I hope you are truthful as to the principle place you vehicle is garaged to avoid insurance fraud.  As a proclaimed PA resident, PA has the right to tax ALL your income, regardless of where earned.
Maybe you should begin to look into KY residency!  

[zach64]

I am changing my residency this year. It was safer to maintain my PA residency until I passed my PhD qualifying exam to ensure that I would actually be in KY for more than 2 years, which I took and passed in November.