Residence in MA, Work in NY, Rent in NJ ?

[jnh978]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA, NJ, NY

I am currently a legal resident of Massachusetts and have W-2 income from working in MA in 2008.

Later this year, I will be renting an apartment in New Jersey and working in New York City.

I am not planning on changing my legal residence to New Jersey ( I have been living in my parents house in Mass.).

My question is regarding who I will be paying state taxes to. I know that I will have to file in MA for the w-2 income that i already have. And I expect my checks from the NY job to have NY State/City taxes withheld.

1) Who gets the state taxes from my NY job? NY (because I work there), NJ (because I rent there), or MA (because it is my legal residence).

2) Will I have to file state returns in all 3 states?

3) Will I have to change my legal residence to NJ (I only expect to work there for a couple years, I want to continue on to get an MBA at some point)?

4) How does New York CITY income tax fit in to all this?

Thank you very much for your time and advice.

 

[FlyingRon]

I'm going to guess based on the "live there for a couple of years" comment that you aren't just using this NJ apartment as a pied-a-terre while you commute back and forth from a Mass. residence.

Yes you need to change your residency to NJ.

Yes you owe NJ income tax when you do (even though NJ taxes have increased over the years since I lived there, I suspect they're still cheaper than Mass.).

You have to pay the city tax regardless of where your residency is.

If you move midyear, you'll need to file partial year tax returns in both Mass and NJ. After that you'll just do the normal tax return in whatever state you are residing in.

 

[davew128]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA, NJ, NY

I am currently a legal resident of Massachusetts and have W-2 income from working in MA in 2008.

Later this year, I will be renting an apartment in New Jersey and working in New York City.

I am not planning on changing my legal residence to New Jersey ( I have been living in my parents house in Mass.).

My question is regarding who I will be paying state taxes to. I know that I will have to file in MA for the w-2 income that i already have. And I expect my checks from the NY job to have NY State/City taxes withheld.

1) Who gets the state taxes from my NY job? NY (because I work there), NJ (because I rent there), or MA (because it is my legal residence).

2) Will I have to file state returns in all 3 states?

3) Will I have to change my legal residence to NJ (I only expect to work there for a couple years, I want to continue on to get an MBA at some point)?

4) How does New York CITY income tax fit in to all this?

Thank you very much for your time and advice.

1) Residence and domicile are a matter of facts, not what you claim to be. They are also different under tax law than say laws for drivers license, voting, etc.
2) NY taxes your wages because you work there. NJ taxes your wages because you live there. NJ will credit you for the lesser of the NJ or NY tax paid on those wages.
3) You will need to file a MA return for income earned while you lived in MA.
You changed your legal residence when you moved to NJ for a long term basis.
4) You are not subject to NYC tax as you do not and apparently never have lived in NY. You should have the withholding stopped and get a refund when you file.