I lived and worked in KS (at client's place) from apr-dec 2007. My employer is in NJ and held NJ taxes throughout. I e-filed state taxes in both states: NJ asking for a full refund as non-resident and KS as part-year resident paying the entire tax amount due. Both states have accepted my tax return (KS has not debited the amt yet). Prior to KS, I worked in TX for 2 months and had a short stay in NJ (~30 days) and did not work there.

My friend says that it would have been better to just pay the difference to KS instead of relying on NJ to refund all taxes paid (which could take a while and at the risk of not getting a full refund). Did I do the right thing? What are my chances of getting a full refund from NJ?

Tax experts, please advise as to whether I should do anything to amend what I have done or if I did the right thing.

Thanks in advance and appreciate your time

If you did not work in NJ or did not live in NJ, you donot pay any tax to NJ. So it appears that you have filed correct NJ return.

Be sure to talk to your payroll department to have them stop withholding NJ tax, and start withholding KS tax instead. Otherwise you'll be in the same mess next year. If they won't, or can't, you should start submitting estimated tax payments to KS each quarter - otherwise you may get socked for underpayment penalties next year.

Thanks MukatA and ebaines!

Is there any reason for NJ to not refund my taxes in full? I do not want to be in a situation where KS has debited all taxes from my bank and NJ does not want to return all taxes withheld. I don't want to be taxed twice on the same income. Is NJ one of those states that does that or am I entitled to a full refund?

Instead of a full refund, if I had opted to only get a refund of the overpayment to NJ and claimed credit on the taxes paid to NJ in KS, will that get me in trouble? (I have a friend who is in the very same situation and has not filed taxes yet. I am trying to see if it can be done differently, with the advantage of being sure that there is no double taxation?).

Please advise.

Thanks again!

KS will want their money - from their point of view you owe then taxes for the wages you earned while living and working there. They don't care if you've over-paid NJ; that's not their problem. If you over-pay your Visa bill that doesn't mean you don' thave to pay your MasterCard, right? Same thing here. There's no reason why NJ would not refund your money - it might take a while though.