Hello.
I have came in US as a visiting PhD student with a J1 visa in March 2010 (I was paid by Italy). My visa was supposed to expire in May 2011.
Then I got a post-doctoral position starting in January 2011, so I extended my visa until 2012 and I started to be paid by US.
I was told that I am under a treaty between Italy and USA for both federal and state taxes.
Now I am filling the taxes for 2011 with a software for foreigner but I am a bit confused. For the federal taxes everything seems fine. The software says that I am a non-resident alien and that I am under the treaty, so it just asks me to to fill the 8843 and the 1040NREZ.
Now I am very confused about the state taxes. The software says that I am a resident (is that possible? Not resident for federal, but resident for state purposes?) and that I have to fill form 1. Is that correct? Theoretically I don't have to pay state tax neither!
Hope somebody can help me
Thanks in advance

If this is still an issue, Massachusetts does NOT honor tax treaties.

Since you are NOT a student, you would be considered to be a full-year resident of Massachusetts regardless of your visa status.