Hi all. Just moved to Manhattan a few months ago and started a new job. The company is based in Jersey City, and I go in twice a week while working from my Manhattan apartment the other three days. I got my first full paycheck and noticed there’s no line for NYC city tax. I only see federal, state, and some NJ things I don’t recognize. I thought living in NYC means you always pay city tax? HR said something about “work location” and “we don’t run a New York payroll entity.” Is that actually a thing? Do I just need to set money aside and pay it myself? I really don’t want a huge bill next spring. Has anyone dealt with a Jersey-based payroll while living here?

Wait, same-ish situation but reversed. My company is in midtown but I moved to Queens and I don’t see a separate NYC line either. I thought it was bundled into my NY state withholding? Now I’m second-guessing myself. Is city tax supposed to show as its own line on the pay stub, or can it be included in the state line? If not, maybe I’ve been underpaying too.

I’m in a fully remote job with an Austin-based company and I definitely don’t have any city withholding. H.R. said they don’t have a New York presence, so they won’t withhold state either. I assumed because I’m W-2, I’m fine, but now I’m thinking not. Does the city tax get filed as part of the New York state return, or is there a separate city form I’ve been missing? Someone at a bar told me you make quarterly payments to the city directly. Is that true?

Slow down—there’s a lot of half-right info in here. NYC resident income tax is administered by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, not a separate city tax office. So yes, you file and pay it as part of your New York State income tax return, but it’s a separate calculation and a separate line on the return. If you are a resident of the five boroughs for more than 183 days of the year, the city tax applies to your income regardless of where the employer is located or where you physically worked.

The withholding issue is different. An employer is only required to withhold New York State and City taxes if it has a New York employer registration or payroll presence. A Jersey City company with no New York entity often won’t withhold any New York taxes at all. That doesn’t mean no tax is due. You still owe New York state tax on the days you work from home in New York, plus the city resident tax on your whole wage base. You may also owe New Jersey nonresident tax for the days you physically work in Jersey City, and then take a New York resident credit for those New Jersey taxes? The details get very fact-specific.

What I did when I worked in Jersey City from Astoria: I asked HR to add a “voluntary” New York State and NYC resident withholding line. They made me submit a completed NYS Form IT-2104 with the city withholding box filled in. It wasn’t perfect—my first few paychecks had no withholding—but once they added it, the rest of the year was much smoother. If HR refuses, you should make estimated payments through the NYS tax site and keep a copy of the confirmation. Do not just hope it sorts itself in April.

Wait, so if I live in Manhattan and commute to Jersey City, I could owe both New York and New Jersey? That sounds like a nightmare. I’m negotiating an offer right now and the office is in Jersey City but I’d be living in Manhattan. Do I ask them for higher salary to cover it? How do people even figure out the split for the days? I thought there was a rule that you only pay where you work. Now I’m stressed.

Oh!! This is the part everyone gets wrong!! You don’t just pay where you work—New York taxes your worldwide income if you’re a NYC resident! And then you might get a resident credit for taxes paid to another state, but that credit is against your NY STATE tax, not the NYC city tax!! The city portion just sits on top like the little municipal tax that it is.

For the withholding piece, have you tried asking your payroll team whether they can add a “locality code” for NYC resident? Some systems let them do it even without a full NY entity. My last job used a PEO and they were able to add it within one pay cycle. If they can’t, set up a recurring transfer to a separate “city tax” savings account every payday. You’ll still owe, but it won’t feel like a surprise.

Has anyone here used the NYS estimated tax portal for NYC resident payments? It’s not that bad once you know what to click!!

Quick side note before I get back to taxes: if you think city tax withholding is a racket, go look at spice prices. There was a whole thing here about buying by the ounce, not the jar: Spice jars are a racket: where are you buying cardamom by the ounce not the jar? Spice jars are a racket: where are you buying cardamom by the ounce not the jar? Okay, back to payroll.

For the actual question, yeah, the Jersey company probably just doesn’t have a New York payroll setup. My wife’s job in Stamford had the same thing. She emailed HR, they said no state withholding, so she had to pay quarterly. It’s annoying but not illegal. You should definitely ask in writing if they can add a voluntary NYC line. Some payroll systems hide it under “other local tax” and it’s not obvious.

The folks saying “separate city form” are half wrong. You report city tax on the New York return, but you can make estimated payments ahead of time. Don’t wait until April or you’ll be whining with the rest of us.

Thanks everyone. The idea of adding a voluntary withholding line makes sense. So I should ask HR for the IT-2104? Do I fill it out with my Manhattan address and the number of allowances, or does HR do that? Also, if I start withholding now but missed the first two paychecks, do I still need to make a separate estimated payment for the gap? I’m not sure how much the gap actually is. I just want to avoid a penalty.

Okay wait, I checked my paystub again and there is a city line, but it's tiny? Like less than I thought. Maybe because my office is in Manhattan but I live in Queens? Should it be based on my work address or my home address? My co-worker who lives in New Jersey has no city line at all. This is making me think I've been reading my own stub wrong for a year.

Good catches in both directions. To answer some of the newer questions:

• If you live in NYC, your city tax is based on your resident status, not the office address. Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn—same city resident rate. If the line is small, it might be based on a partial-year IT-2104 or payroll simply under-withholding.
• If you live in New Jersey but work in New York, you generally don’t owe NYC resident tax (with narrow exceptions), so your co-worker’s missing line is probably correct.
• If you are a W-2 employee, you are not self-employed just because the employer won’t withhold. You are still an employee. You may need to make estimated payments directly, but you don’t owe self-employment tax.
• If HR agrees to start withholding now, yes, a gap exists for the paychecks already issued. You can either make a catch-up estimated payment before the quarterly deadline or adjust your withholding higher for the rest of the year to cover it, if your payroll allows.

I’d keep it simple: ask HR for the correct withholding form, fill it out with your actual city resident status, and then—if there’s a gap—send one estimated payment for the shortfall before the next quarterly due date. Keep your paystubs and the payment confirmation in the same folder. You’ll thank yourself when you file.

Can someone clarify the “more than 183 days” part? If I moved to Manhattan in July, am I part-year resident? Does the city tax only apply from my move date? Or do they count the whole tax year? My Austin employer definitely won’t withhold anything, so I’m trying to figure out if I need to pay estimated for just the second half. Also, is there a form to tell the city I moved in? I keep seeing IT-203 and IT-201 and I don’t know which one.