I worked as a government contractor for several years after military retirement. My employer at the time was based in Norfolk Virginia and I resided in Alexandria. Upon retirement I moved from Alexandria to Forestville Maryland as reflected on my W2 as a new hire. Subsequently in 2002 I moved back to Virginia to shorten my comute and resided in Alexandria VA. And ultimately Manassas VA. Until 2007. The State of Virginia is currently garnishing my retirement check for non payment of state taxes during an extended period when unfortunately I was obviously residing in Virginia but my documents reflect my state taxes were being paid for several years to the state of Maryland. I am unemployed and have been for several years now and clearly this is a hardship. How do I recoup since I am paying double, initially by erroneous deduction by Maryland and now for the past year and a half being garnishment by Virginia. What do I file? How do I file? How long will it take? What are the penalties?

Get an attorney to unravel this.

I would go in person to a MD tax office to see what to file for getting a refund, bringing all your documentation with you. I guess these days you have to call first.

I would contact the Virginia tax authorities to see about filing the past year Virginia returns and claim a credit for the Maryland taxes paid.

Given that Maryland tax rates are in general HIGHER than Virginia, the credit may offset ALL of the owed Virginia taxes.