Hello,

My husband works in NJ but we live in NY. His job sent him so many w-2's it is so confusing. We use taxcut to do our taxes usually. Do we have to enter w-2's separately like one for NY and one for NJ? Or just add them up? Any help would be appreciated. For federal we would have to file one federal return and then file two state returns. Is that how it works? Thank you so much.

Tambrin:

As noted on several of my posts, tax software does not handle multi-state return very well, because there are too many variables for the programmers to properly account for.

For this reason, my initial recommendation is that you use a tax professional. I am available, and if you are interested, you can contact me at [email protected]. I think you will find my rates very competitive with what a local tax professional would charge to do your return.

If you want to try to do it yourself, you will need both the NJ and NY version of TaxCut, as you must file returns for both states. You will file the NJ return as a non-resident, then NY will give you credit for the NJ tax you paid. Since NY tax rates are higher than NJ, I expect that money was withheld for both states.

If you file electronically, you probably cannot file both states that way. Prepare both returns and, if you are bound and determined to file at least one electronically, file NJ with your federal return. Since no credits are allowed on the NJ return, NJ does not need a copy of your NY state tax return.

However, since NY does allow a credit for NJ taxes paid, NY does require that a copy of the NJ return be attached to the NY return when filed. Unless all three returns are filed simultaneously, this cannot be done electronically. Hence, I expect you will have to file the NY paper return by mail.