Did my taxes this weekend and want to throw my laptop out the window. I lived in Astoria until June 30th, then moved to Philly for a new job. Same company, but I went fully remote. My W-2 shows NYC resident tax withheld for all 12 months, not just the 6 months I actually lived there. TurboTax keeps treating me like a full-year NYC resident and saying I owe a chunk. I know I don't owe city tax for after I left. Do I need a special form? Should I make HR fix the W-2, or can I just deal with it on the return? Anyone else been through this? Help an exhausted person out.

Been there, sis. The payroll office probably still had your old Astoria address and kept withholding city tax on autopilot. You don't need them to fix it first—you can fix it on the return. You file as a part-year resident for NY, not full-year. There's a city form, IT-360.1, where you put your move date and allocate only the income you made while you lived in the city. Don't let TurboTax shove you into the full-year bucket; there's a screen for did you move out of NYC mid-year. You'll get back most of that city withholding. Just gather your paystubs to prove the split.

Same exact thing happened to me when I left East Harlem for Connecticut in October a couple years back. HR kept my Manhattan address even after I told them twice. W-2 showed city tax all year. I just filed part-year and used my actual move-out date, not the date I signed the new lease or whatever. Refund took like 6 months but it showed up. Keep copies of your lease and tell HR to fix it for this year or it'll happen again.

Question for the group: if you move out but still have to go into the city once or twice a month for meetings, can the city still tax those days? I thought once you're out, you're out, but someone told me there's a convenience rule that can pull remote days back to NY.

This is a common payroll screw-up, but you're right that you shouldn't owe NYC resident tax after you've moved out and established domicile elsewhere. NYC does not have a general nonresident earnings tax for private-sector W-2 employees; that commuter tax was repealed. So after your move date, even if your employer's office is in NYC or you occasionally go back for meetings, you generally don't owe NYC tax on post-move wages.

Here's the practical path:

1. File a part-year New York State return (IT-203) if you moved out of the state entirely, or an IT-201 with a change-of-city-status if you stayed in NYS. For the city piece, complete Form IT-360.1 (Change of City Resident Status).
2. Enter your NYC residency period—say, January 1 through June 30. On that form you report only the income you earned during the resident period.
3. If your W-2 lumps all NYC withholding together, use your paystubs to figure out the amount withheld while you actually lived in the city. The balance is an overpayment refundable to you.
4. Ideally get HR/payroll to issue a corrected W-2 or at least a letter breaking down the withholding by residence period. If they're unresponsive, file with your own calculations and attach a brief note.

TurboTax and other software often default to full-year if you don't check the right box in the state interview. Make sure you select that you moved out of NYC during the year. It may generate IT-203 plus IT-360.1. If it keeps forcing IT-201, skip the software for the city part and do the forms manually or use a preparer.

Thanks @astoria_arch. That's exactly what I was missing—TurboTax had me on IT-201 because I didn't check the box that I moved out mid-year. I'll try IT-203 with IT-360.1 tonight after work. Did you have to attach proof of the move, like a new lease or utility bill? Or do they just take your word for the date? HR is useless so I'm not holding my breath for a corrected W-2.

@7train_rita HR being useless is basically a city tax at this point lol. I moved from Brooklyn to Jersey in October and my W-2 also showed NYC withholding for all 12 months. I filed part-year and attached a copy of the new lease plus my first PSEG bill from Jersey. Not 100% sure they needed it, but I'd rather give them too much than get a love letter from Albany. Refund came in maybe 8 weeks. Save every piece of paper.

@astoria_arch Wait, what if my employer is based in Manhattan and I'm fully remote from Philly after I move? Does that change the source rules? I heard New York can still say my wages are NY-source because the company is in NYC, and then I'd owe state tax on all of it. If that's true, does city tax also follow?

Good question, and it confuses everyone. For New York State income tax, yes, there's a convenience-of-the-employer rule: if your assigned work location is in New York and you work remote from another state for your own convenience, New York can tax 100% of your wages as NY-source income. That's state tax, though.

But New York City resident tax is different. It's imposed on NYC residents, not on nonresidents who work for a private employer based in the city. Once you establish residency in Philly and genuinely live there, you stop being subject to city tax on your wages from that date forward, even if you still pay NY State tax under the convenience rule. Your W-2 might still show NY State withholding, but the NYC line should go to zero for the rest of the year. If it doesn't, that's an overwithholding you claim back on the part-year forms.

The only caveat is if you misclassified your residency—like you kept your NYC apartment, still vote here, kids in city schools, etc. Then you could be treated as a statutory resident and owe city tax regardless of Philly. But a clean move usually isn't a problem.

Wait so if I moved to CT but kept working remote for my Manhattan company, I still have to pay New York STATE tax on all of it? That's straight robbery. And then my CT return gets a credit for taxes paid to NY? I feel like this state never lets go.

@EastHarlem_E yep, the NY convenience rule is brutal. CT gives a credit for taxes paid to NY on the same income, but often only up to CT's rate, so leftover goes to NY. I had to deal with that for a year before I switched jobs. For city tax though, you shouldn't owe once you're out. That's the small win.

Question for @astoria_arch or anyone who knows—what if I was a CT resident for the entire year but worked in the city 3 days a month, and my employer still withheld NYC resident tax for Jan-May because they had my old Manhattan address from years ago? That yoke was wrong, right? Do I file a nonresident return and ask for that city withholding back, or do I need some special NYC form?

If you were a New York City nonresident for the entire year, you generally shouldn't have had NYC withholding at all for those Jan-May periods, unless you're a city employee or fall under a very narrow category. You'd file a nonresident New York State return (IT-203) and show zero New York City resident tax. The withheld city tax becomes an overpayment refundable to you.

In practice, you'll want:

• A corrected W-2 if HR can issue one—many can't or won't, but ask in writing.
• Your own records showing you were a Connecticut resident before and during that period: CT lease, driver's license/ID, voter registration, utility bills.
• A short statement attached to the return explaining that the NYC withholding was erroneous because you were never a city resident and only commuted in for occasional workdays.

The state may take several months and could send a request for more proof. Just respond with your documents. Also remember that the days you physically worked in NYC are still NY-source income for New York State tax, so you may owe state tax on those days, but not city tax. Don't confuse the two.