How to file my taxes properly if I am active duty?

[lonelyboy22]

I am active duty military currently stationed in VA, and my HOR is NY, however I recently changed my state taxes record to the state of FL, so part of the NY taxes were deducted from my pay, and then stopped after I changed to FL. In addition, I did some side hustles in the state of VA and received payment via Paypal, are those filed as VA?

[DMarkM1]

Yes,  you are on the right track. 

1. In the "My Info" section indicate your resident state was FL on December 31st.  
2. Next, indicate you lived in another state (NY) and enter the date you changed to FL. 
3. Continue.  
4. Scroll down to "Other State Income" and indicate you earned money in another state (VA).  

These actions will generate Part-year resident returns for FL and NY and a non-resident return for VA.

[Critter-3]

FYI ... FL has no state income tax. 

[Critter-3]

And if you did not physically live in NY you are considered a non resident and none of the military income is subject to NY taxes even if the SLR is NY ... you should have stopped NY withholding when you were relocated to VA ...  so file a non resident NY return and indicate none  of the military pay is subject to NY taxes to get all of them back ...  read the rules ... https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/military_page.htm

[lonelyboy22]

Thank you very much 😁

TurboTax says I owe like $350 for NY taxes which I'm not sure if that's accurate. I did have NY withholdings reflected on my W2 but of course after I changed my residency to FL then that stopped. 

But just to clarify, changing my HOR on DFAS is what matters for taxes? because in the eyes of the military, my actually HOR is still NY for legal matters and such. 

[lonelyboy22]

If this is the case, when I was stationed in Japan, and filed taxes and PCSd to VA, I should have never paid any NY taxes because I never lived in NY again since 2019 😭

[TomD8]

@lonelyboy22 --

When you're on active duty your state tax obligation is to your military SLR (State of Legal Residence).  If your military SLR in 2019 was NY, then for tax purposes that year you were a NY resident - even if you hadn't lived in NY for a number of years.

Your military SLR doesn't change unless you formally change it with DFAS.

This reference explains how NY taxes military pay:

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/military_page.htm#:~:text=Your%20military%20pay%20is%20subject,201%2....

[lonelyboy22]

In reference to this situation, would i allocate 100% for NY taxes? Florida does not tax. 

[TomD8]

Did you officially change your military SLR from New York to Florida in 2022?  If so, you would allocate to NY the number of days in 2022 up to the day you made the change.  Or you could use the percentage method in the same way.

(If your military SLR did not change from NY during 2022, then you would allocate 100% to NY.) 

[RobertB4444]

Click "Don't allocate this employer".  Your military income is not subject to NY taxes if you resided in Virginia for the entire year.  You have no NY income and they should return your withholding to you.

@lonelyboy22 

[TomD8]

True, if you meet the conditions for non-resident status.

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/military_page.htm#:~:text=Your%20military%20pay%20is%20subject,201%2....

[lonelyboy22]

I followed these instructions but the amount that was taken from my W2 for NY is $620 but according to TurboTax I am only getting $366, is this correct?