[scicome]

Hi Forum Members,

I am US citizen and am a student of University of Michigan. In 2008 I had a less than 7% of my income from my one semester stay (4 months) at Univ of Michigan. In the summer and second semester of 2008, I had more than 93% of my income from South Carolina from a 6 month internship. My stay in Massachusetts, in 2008, was for less than 3 months, and I had NO income in Massachusetts.

My parents are US residents of Massachusetts and US citizens, and I can be claimed as their dependent. I have a MA driving license.

Question are :
1. For MA tax purposes, for 2008, am I a part time resident, Non-Resident or full time resident of Massachusetts, even though I had no income in MA and my stay in MA is the least? Both MI and MA seem to want to tax all my SC income on which I am already paying SC state tax. And the MA and MI each want to tax about the same amount as SC.

2. Is there a way wherein I do not have to pay so much taxes to MA and MI ?

Forum members, Many thanks for whatever help/comments!

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

You are a full-year resident of Massachusetts, and non-resident for both Michigan and South Carolina due to your status as a student.

You will pay taxes on the SC income to SC, but should get a credit from MA for the SC taxes paid. Additional taxes will probably be due to MA due to MA's higher tax rate.

Michigan has NO legal standing to tax your SC income, but they have to be convinced of this fact. Sending copies of the SC and MA tax returns should do the trick.