Asking this because I’ve now seen two people in my office get stuck with the same payroll mess, and I want to make sure I’m steering them the right way before tax season.

A former coworker moved from Astoria to Nassau County on June 1. She kept the same Manhattan employer. Payroll did not update her local withholding until September, so her pay stubs kept showing NYC city tax withheld for roughly three months after she moved out. She no longer had a NYC apartment or any city abode, and she changed her license/registration within the same month.

My understanding is that NYC’s personal income tax is generally a resident tax, and since the commuter tax went away, just commuting into Manhattan from Nassau does not make her wages taxable by the city. The question is what to do now that the money is already withheld.

From what I can tell, the cleanest approach is:

• Ask payroll for a statement or corrected W-2 that splits city wages at the move date.
• If they won’t correct it, file IT-203 with IT-360.1 and allocate the city wages as zero for the post-move period.
• Look at NYC-1127 for a direct refund of improperly withheld city tax, but only after the regular filing doesn’t resolve it?
• Keep a day-by-day record of where she worked after June 1, because the state may ask about office vs. remote days even if the city does not.

I don’t want to overcomplicate it, but I also don’t want to tell her “it’ll sort itself out on the return” if the city side doesn’t actually get fixed without a specific allocation.

Has anyone here actually filed NYC-1127 or had to correct city wages after a midyear move? Did the Department of Finance just accept the IT-360.1 allocation, or did they ask for a corrected W-2 first? Not tax advice, obviously, but I’d rather point her toward the right forms than leave three months of city withholding on the table.

Oh man, I think I left money on the table last year. I moved from Bay Ridge to Jersey City in August and never even looked at whether local tax was still coming out. I just assumed if my job is in Manhattan then NYC tax is normal forever.

So for a nonresident who lives in Jersey but works in Manhattan, the city tax line should actually be zero? That's wild to me.

Following this thread. If I find last year's W-2, what box am I even looking at to see if it was NYC tax?

I’ll be the contrarian here: the part of this that gets overlooked is proving the move wasn’t a soft “I crashed in Nassau for a few months while keeping my city life half-alive.” If the friend changed her license, registration, voter registration, and lease all in June, she probably has a good domicile change. But if she still has any NYC storage unit, keeps seeing doctors here, or left a bank mailing address? The city can argue she didn't fully change domicile until later.

Also, people often confuse city tax with state tax. The state absolutely cares about convenience-of-employer and NYC-source days for nonresidents. For the city, the wage tax is not a general commuter tax. So, yes, the payroll withholding is probably wrong, but the harder proof is the residency change date, not the commute days.

My unpopular opinion: if the amount withheld over those three months is small, the amended/allocated filing headache might cost more in time and preparer fees than the refund is worth. But if it’s several hundred, prioritize getting the residence date batch-proof.

Wait, now I'm confused. I live on Long Island and still have NYC tax taken out of my paycheck because my office is in Manhattan. I thought that was correct? You're saying someone who lives on Long Island doesn't owe NYC income tax just for working in the city?

If so, should I be filling out something with my employer to stop the withholding? I assumed the city tax line was like a commuter tax. Does this apply to all new york nonresidents or only people who moved midyear?

Lol this has the same “please tell me I’m not crazy” energy as 6:45 AM sidewalk power-washing in Woodside—am I the block crank or is this a real 311 thing? about the 6:45 AM sidewalk power-washing in Woodside—am I the block crank or is this a real 311 thing? Same vibe: the city has a rule, but nobody in the office can explain it until you find the one person who’s been through it.

From what I’ve seen with my brother-in-law, the refund isn’t automatic. His payroll corrected the going-forward withholding but refused to change the W-2. He filed IT-360.1 with the allocation and attached a letter from HR showing the corrected address and effective date. DOF eventually sent an adjustment, no corrected W-2 needed. Took a while though.

For firstwinter: if you live on LI and work in Manhattan, you should not have NYC resident tax withheld. That’s not a commuter tax. Talk to payroll about fixing it now, because getting it back after a whole year is way more annoying.

A couple of clarifications from my original post, because I think StatenNotSorry and firstwinter are circling the exact same confusion.

For NYC personal income tax, nonresidents are not taxed on wages simply because they work in the city. The old commuter tax is long gone. The state has its own nonresident/NY-source rules, and that’s where a Long Island resident’s Manhattan office days may create state tax complications. But the city tax line isn’t that.

To firstwinter: yes, if payroll is taking NYC city tax from you while you live on Long Island, that’s likely wrong. Check your address on file with HR and ask them to stop. Don’t expect them to know automatically—half the time it’s software using an old work location or a previous address.

To StatenNotSorry: the domicile/proof question is fair. The friend’s case is clean on paper—new lease, changed DMV, changed voter registration, ended utilities in Queens—but the city can still ask for exactly that package if they challenge the allocation. That’s why I told her to keep utility bills and the registration sticker receipt.

And to DykerNewbie: look at Box 18 on your W-2, but don’t assume it’s wrong without checking the local code. Some employers report NJ wages in Box 18 as “local” but the code tells you it’s not NYC. Cross-check with a pay stub from before and after the move.

I moved from Queens to Westchester in April and my pay stubs kept NYC local tax through June. HR fixed it in July but said they can't refund the old withholding. I have a corrected W-2? Actually I don't think they even gave one; they just changed my address in payroll.

Do I still need IT-360.1 if my W-2 already shows the city wages for the whole year? I used free tax software and it basically ignored the city allocation and said I owed a little. I'm thinking of just paying it to avoid letters, but after reading this maybe not.

Anyone have a preparer in the Bronx/Yonkers area who knows this without charging like a Manhattan firm? Thanks.