Comment by skizm | Hacker News Reader

Comment by skizm | Hacker News Reader

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The worst part about taxes is that I never know if I did them correctly since the feedback loop is up to 3 years. Just shoot them off into the ether and cross your fingers you don't get a giant bill next year.

The first time I filed, I had not updated my W4 soon enough after moving and owed NYC like $4k in taxes which came up around 18 months after I filed. The following year the software I was using said I owed around $10k in taxes, which I was pretty sure was wrong, so I went to an accountant and they did it for me and said I owed nothing. Even after all that, there is no way to know who is right until 3 years from now (IRS theoretically doesn't look back more than 3 years for individual returns).

Idle NY tax thought -- it's wild that you have to file a NY return just because the company you work for is based there -- seems weird that other states put up with that (not that it takes revenues away, but seems like it forces an additional paperwork/accounting burden on them)

Every state does this. My partner lived in RI and worked in Boston and had to file in both states

you don't have to file a NY return if you didn't live in NY during the tax year.

I don't think that's true. I've never lived in NY but commuted in from NJ for multiple years and always had to file both states.

NY makes you file based on the source of the income not your residency, "You must file Form IT-203 if you: were not a resident of New York State and received income during the tax year from New York State sources", also NYC has it's own tax rate and form, as does Yonkers.

I don't know if it's true for NY, but many people live in western Wisconsin and commute to St. Paul / Minneapolis in Minnesota, and none of those people are required to file income tax returns in Minnesota. They file only Wisconsin returns.

This may not be entirely true. I lived in NC full time and filed taxes in CA and NY (as well as other states). Nexus is the term our accountant used.

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