Lived in Texas for past 10 yrs but lived in PA for 3 months! TAX HELP!?

Question

I have lived in Texas for 2006 except for a 3 month visit to family in Hershey Pennsylvania. While I was there I was offered a job and took it. I have always filed my taxes on www.intuit.com (which uses turbo tax). I started working on my tax return and I am just stumped. Pennsylvania had state and local taxes. I also worked for the state so they deducted a percentage for retirement. While going through turbo tax it asked if I lived out of state? So I selected yes and it asked when I became a resident of Texas. I have lived here for 10 years =( The next question was if I worked out of state. Do I need to file 2 returns? One with my Texas job and the other for when I worked in PA? I'm thinking I should go to HR Block to avoid mistakes but they are such a rip off....Any Advice?

Texas doesnt have any state taxes.

When filing my federal I do include my PA information, right? Then seperatly file my state and local taxes for PA?

Answer 1

Yes, you do need to file a state return in PA as a part-year resident. You can download PA forms at www.state.pa.us - since PA tax is a flat rate, it's not very complicated. There's a box to check saying you were a part-year resident. You'll just show the income you made while you were living in PA. You'll probably break even money-wise, it'll just be filing the form.

You're probably also stuck for a local return for wherever you lived in PA. You'd get the form from the tax collector there. Your family in that area can probably get you their name and address. That's a flat rate too, and isn't complicated. If you had money withheld for local taxes, you'll probably be even with them too as far as money, but they'll still want their form.

I didn't think that Texas had a state income tax - if that's true, you wouldn't be filing a state return there.

TurboTax should do your federal return easily.

Definitely not worth going to H&R Block for. They wouldn't have access to the local PA stuff anyway, so you'd still end up with that on your plate or paying them a bundle to track it down. And PA state forms are easy.

Answer 2

Depends on circumstances. There are a couple situations where a child could be claimed even if they didn't live with that parent at all. A non-custodial parent can claim a child as a qualifying child, and get not only the exemption but also the child tax credit, if they and the child meet all the rules for the child to be a qualifying child and if there is a valid court order saying they can, or if the custodial parent signs a form turning the exemption over to the other parent. The claim would not include other credits like EIC or child care credits though, or the right to file as head of household - those would remain with the custodial parent. A parent who provides over half of the child's support for the year, if the child is not the qualifying child of anyone else and the child's gross income for the year is less than the value of the exemption ($3500 for 2008) can claim the child as a qualifying relative. If the child you are claiming isn't an immediate family member (eg child, grandchild, sibling, niece or nephew), they'd have to live with you ALL year and meet some other rules for you to claim them. If someone claims a child when they aren't legally allowed to, at a minimum they'd have to pay back what they got from claiming the child, plus penalties and interest. If they claim EIC for that child, they'd be banned from getting EIC for several years even if they legally qualified in the future years. If a non-custodial parent claims a child when they aren't allowed to, that would usually be all that happens unless they keep doing it after the IRS informs them that they can't. Fraud charges are possible depending on the situation, and you don't give enough into to even guess at what could happen there.

Answer 3

Yes, H & R Block are not the best people to go to this year. Go to a local CPA firm. It will be worth it for the peace of mind just for this year - peace of mind that doesn't cost you an extra $27!

The trick is telling the computer that you were resident in Texas and part-year resident in PA. The trouble with off-the-shelf programs is that they don't do everything. CPAs have software that can be tweaked easily, if you know what you are doing. That is why we cost a little more than an off-the-shelf program. Actually, its also for our knowledge, skill and experience.

Doing PA tax returns is not simple, especially if you have never done one.

Answer 4

You need to file a federal return, of course. Then you need to file a Texas and Pennslyvania return. When the question asks when you became a resident of Texas, you need to put when you returned to Texas.

Answer 5

You do need to file seperately. We were in the same situation a few years ago.