Got married, moved from NJ to NY but still work in NJ

[nmonchinski]

Hi

I have a situation I need some help with.  I moved from NJ to NY in April 2021.  I got married in Aug 2021 and have been living in NY since April.  However, I still work in NJ and have been working in NJ all year.  How do I file if I lived in 2 different states, sold my property in NJ, got married, and work in a state I don't live in so I don't have to pay taxes twice but get a return for the property taxes I paid in NJ from Jan-April?

[BillM223]

Generally, your process is this:

1. In the Personal Info/My Info section, be sure to enter your home state as New York (what it was on 12/31/2021) and your prior state as New Jersey.

2. Enter your NJ return first. TurboTax will tell you the forms you need to file.

3. Enter your NYS return next. TurboTax will tell you the forms you need to file.

The NJ return will calculate a tax for NJ. This will be applied on your NYS return as a credit against NYS taxes.

"get a return for the property taxes I paid in NJ from Jan-April" - I am not sure if you are referring to property taxes or income taxes. We normally do not answer questions here about property taxes anyway.

NOTE: as a now NYC resident, please review your NYC withholding. It is a common problem that I see that taxpayers who live in NYC expect their NJ tax to offset their NYS tax (which it does, sort of), but since some taxpayers I have talked to didn't withhold NYC tax for whatever reason, they ended up owing money on their NYS return (NYS collects NYC tax).

This may be worth a call to your payroll department to make sure that your NYC tax is being withheld.

[nmonchinski]

Thank you so much. This is a good start.  I did also want to know if it is better to file as married jointly or married separate.  My husband works in NY as well.  I do need to contact my HR to have NY tax withheld so I do anticipate owing.  As for taxes I was referring to property taxes I paid in NJ which typically result in me getting a refund. 

[BillM223]

"if it is better to file as married jointly or married separate."

The general rule is that filing joint is better than filing separate. This is if for no other reason that certain credits are not available if you are filing separately instead of joint. Furthermore, if you file separately, if one of you itemizes deductions, then both of you must itemize deductions, even it that hurts.

However, there are situations where it is better to file separately, for example, if the income and deductions are very lopsided.

Even so, the only way to be sure is to run it both ways and see the results.

My guess is that since you are both working, filing joint will be better