State income tax withholding

dmbornstein · ‎January 23, 2026

My son is a an out of state student at Virginia Tech and worked part-time on campus last summer. Before he started working, he mistakenly claimed to be exempt from Virginia state income tax for 2025. Therefore, no VA state taxes were deducted from his paychecks. His income was only around $1900 for the summer since most of his work was unpaid. Is there any action needed to correct this situation, we believe he should not have claimed to be exempt before he started working, and would like to resolve any issues that may later arise.

xmasbaby0 · ‎January 23, 2026

Wish we knew what state he is from. If you are claiming him as a dependent on your own return (which is what parents of college students may do) then living away at school is a "temporary absence" and you say he lived at home with you on your own return. So he can file a return for the "home" state but FIRST he has to prepare a return for the NON-resident state where he attends school. Since he had no tax withheld, he will not get a refund. There are several states with no income tax, and several with reciprocal agreements---so that may come into play. Going forward----alert him that he is not exempt from paying tax.

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