Hello.

Help! I am so confused. I live in the state of NY and within the 5 Boroughs which is considered NYC. Does this mean that Box 16 & 18 and Box 17 & 19 should have the same information.
Thank you in advance.

Imani

Boxes 16 and 18 should be equal, assuming you lived in NYC all year. Boxes 17 and 19 will be different, since the tax rate fior NYC residency tax is different than NY State income tax.

Agreed.

Note that it is possible that these taxes, by themselbves, may make it possible for you to ITEMIZE on your federal return, especially if you donated to charity.

Thank you for both answers. Just to clarify, if box 18 & 19 are empty does that mean that my employer did not take out the local tax (I do live in NYC) and I will now owe?

If you do NOT live in NYC, you will NOT owe NYC income taxes, even if you work there.

ImaniG - if those boxes are empty then it appears your employer has not been withholding NYC resident tax from your pay. So indeed you may owe some taxes when you complete your NY income tax return. However - since the NYC resident tax is computed on the same form as your NY State tax, your total tax is the sum of the two and if you have an overpayment against the NY State portion it is automatically applied to the NYC portion. In any event you should ask your employer to start withholding NYC resident tax - otherwise you may find yourself in a position of owing interest for under withholding during the year.