NY State tax calculation on desktop version

[iampeng]

Hello, I need some help about my NY state tax return. I already reviewed the TurboTax Link but I still cannot understand my tax return. 

Context: In 2024 Jan - Aug, I lived in WA and worked in WA. I moved to NJ at Sep, and started working in NY at that time. My wife lives and works in NJ all the time. On my W-2 Box 16, it shows 100% income for NY and ~30% income for NJ.  Other than my W-2, I also have other income from WA and NJ. I want to file tax with my wife's NJ income together (she only has NJ income).

I did 2 allocations for my NY tax:

1. State wage allocation.

2. Nonresident other allocation.

1 & 2 covers all income we have in 2024, but my taxable income shows in "New York tax return summary" looks wrong. It is our total income minus a small deduction. 

My questions:

1. I only worked in NY for ~4 months, why taxable income is almost all of our income? This looks wrong to me because my wife never live or work in NY, why we also need to pay NY state tax for her income?

2. The extra tax I paid to NY will be returned as credit by NJ. Does that mean even if my NY tax is wrong, I can just ignore it because the total tax I will pay should be the same?

Thank you in advance!

[RobertB4444 · Accepted solution]

New York uses your entire taxable income to figure out the tax that you owe them.  It's a little annoying but that is how they do it.  

New Jersey will give you a partial credit for what you paid to New York.  Not the entire amount because only 30% of the New York income is taxable in New Jersey.

@iampeng 

[iampeng]

Appreciate your answer!