How does my income tax work out?

Question

I am a NJ resident, going to school in NYC (and living here during the school year) and also working here in NYC. I'm making $12/hour and my tax has been around 23% out of some paychecks!

What's going on??? Am I getting taxed extra because I told my employer my address as my NJ address? Which state tax form should I be filling out? Should I be getting most of this money back?

Just for reference, here are some of my year to date tax numbers. Total earnings has been $6790

SO SEC TAX 421.01
MEDICARE TAX 98.46
FED INC TAX 694.02
PRI-STATE TAX 162.89
SDI/UC TAX 13.20

TOTAL TAXES 1,389.58
around 20% of my total earnings...

Thanks guys!

Answer 1

I don't live in New Jersey or New York, but I do live in an area where many people work in one state and live in another. You file state taxes for the state you live in. However, you probably paid the state taxes in New York, so you're going to have to fill out both state tax forms in order to get credit for the taxes you paid in New York against what you owe in New Jersey. How much you get in refunds depends on a lot of factors such as if you are claimed as a dependent on your parents tax forms, whether you get any sort of educational credits and if you make a contribution to an IRA. I would suggest you get tax help in filling out your forms. Programs such as AARP Tax Aid will fill out and file tax forms free for students and low income tax payers as well as senior citizens.

Answer 2

You should be able to obtain a refund of the income tax that you paid to the federal government, provided your income does not change drastically between now and the end of the year.

The social security tax and the medicare tax are non-refundable under any circumstances. That money goes to support us old geezers who are collecting social security payments and use medicare for our medical expenses. If it will make you feel any better, knowing that these monies will not be refunded, remember, someday you will be 67 years of age or older and will be in position to collect like we old folk do today.

I don't know what the other two taxes are for as I do not live in either NJ or NY. The SDI/UC tax sounds like a tax that is being imposed so that people who are collecting unemployment compensation will have some money to live on in order to feed their families and have heat and electricity.

Sorry that I could not have been of more help.