Having 2 W-2s: Unnecessarily paid State Income Tax even when I was not there !!?

Question

Hi,

I moved from Georgia to Washington state in the month of Jan 2006. I didn't realize that Washington State does not have a state income tax. I had been paying state income tax until Aug 2006 after which I changed my state to be Washington State.

I almost paid around $2,300 on Georgia State Income tax. I would like to reclaim that money now as I didn't live in Georgia from Jan 2006 - Aug 2006 and unnecessarily paid the tax to state of Georgia.

Can you please tell me how can I solve this issue ?

Thank You,

Answer 1

You need to file a GA return as a part year resident. Your state tax should only apply to the money you earned while living in Ga. That probably means you are due a significant refund. You should have updated your address right away. If Washington did have a state income tax, you would owe them for under withholding.

Answer 2

You must be military! Because, a normal employer in Washington would not have taken out state taxes for the state of Georgia... =) My second point, give a swift kick in the butt to whoever your administration clerk is that handles your service record... He should have known to check with you to see if you wanted to switch your home of record to take advantage of tax breaks... If you're not military, then you REALLY need to explain your situation to me to help me understand how your company messed up that bad...

I'm not sure about how to reclaim those taxes, but can tell you how I saved money on my taxes this year so that you can do the same. I found a site that paid for all of my H&R Block filing fees this year. I went through their steps, took me about 30 minutes, and was told at the end that, if I had owed the IRS instead of getting a return, they would have paid up to $500 of my taxes for me! So, I got all of my filing fees paid back to me, and still got all of the benefits of protection that H&R Block offers! Go through their steps to see how much they can save you this year...

Jason

Answer 3

I think you'll have to file a GA state income tax return to get a refund. Talk to a tax expert.