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mrwise · Apr 10, 2007, 12:58 PM

Hi there,

I am a F1 student on OPT, who lived in Pennsylvania till mid August 2006. I graduated, got a job as a contractor, and moved to Cleveland, Ohio for three months. After that, I was in Tennessee for a month, after which I quit the job. I received a 1099-Misc from my employer for my pay covering the 4 months in Ohio and Tennessee. I received a W-2 from my school to reflect my school income as well. I have taken care of the federal return, but my questions are:

1. Do I have to file an Ohio tax return? I was only there for 90 days, and took a 3 month lease for an apt. I believe I am an Ohio non-resident, but the tax form in very convoluted for me, since not all of my income was earned in Ohio. Also, the govt website is not very clear about non-residents with 1099s.

2. Alternatively, can I pay tax to Pennsylvania for the income earned on my 1099? The problem is that I do not have a fixed tax home, to which I can pay my taxes.

3. I was told that since I do not have a fixed tax home, I can pay tax to either Ohio or Pennsylvania. Is this true?

I would appreciate any advice/help that people can give me. I didn't really earn a lot overall, so the states probably won't come after me... I hope.

AtlantaTaxExpert · Apr 18, 2007, 08:58 AM

1&2) You could probably argue that you are NOT a Ohio resident, but you would still have to pay PA taxes on the ohio-based income, because, with this argument, you never established domicile in Ohio.

3) It's your choice: pay taxes on ALL of the pay to PA or part to OH and part of PA.