State Income Taxes

Sherrie
(North Carolina)





How do I handle state income taxes? I may end up working in more than one state in any given year. How is this handled?





Comments for State Income Taxes

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Tax Variables - Get the Advice of a Tax Professional


Hi Sherrie,

You may need to file a state income tax return in every state in which you were employed that has a state income tax.

Some RVers do their state income tax returns themselves. It seems they frequently use tax preparation software and file online. They say it is pretty easy to do.

Some RVers only accept employment in states that don't have state income tax.

There are a lot of variables. Where is your employer based? Are you an employee or an independent contractor? Did you make enough to require you file? Do you have a tax home? Are you, as far as the IRS is concerned, a transient worker?

The best advice I can give you is to contact an accountant or tax professional who knows about transient and mobile workers.
State Income Tax


As per the question regarding filing returns or paying tax to a different State than your claimed state of residency....

Greater part of the time, you only have to file a state income tax return if the income you earned is within the "earned income" (W-2 income) for that state. Check with the Franchise State Tax board (each state has its own name) for each state you will be working in and see what its state income tax filing requirements are. Most states you can find on line. The key phase is "filing requirements."

After you have checked, you may want to make sure that each of your pay checks are not withholding state income tax. I would only file a state income tax return for my non residency state if I had state income tax withheld. I could spend that money on something else...like GAS.

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