please help! tax refund if we work in mass/live in n.h..confused? (how much, home)

[kikidee]

hi..boy can i use some help..can anyone who lives in nh and works in mass please give us a general idea of why my hubby gets so little back on the mass state tax?...my dad is a cpa in fla and files for us but of the aprox. 6600 we paid in , we are getting only 400 dollars back?..that is with a family of 5 (he claims only 1 excemption during the year so you would think we would get alot back!)

some people i talk to say they get so much of their mass tax back because they dont live there but live in n.h...we own a home here in nh so we would just like to know aprox how much others actually get back of the money they paid in to the state of mass. so we know if we are doing something wrong in filing and costing ourselves thousands..

thank you so much..kiki

[mal7014]

I work in MA and live in NH. I got back around $700.

[babynh]

I live in NH and work 2 days a week in Mass and 3 days out of my home. From what I understand, I only pay income tax on the 2 days that I am actually in the Mass office. I get a decent refund back because my work withholds for all 5 days. If I worked full time in the office, I'd probably break even.

Do you have income, other than your husband's, that is not in MA? If so, you should not have to pay MA taxes on that. I wonder if your father is doing something incorrect on the Non-Resident form? To owe 6200 in taxes for MA, your Adjusted (after deductions) MA income would have to be about 117K.

[buck naked]

if you earn income in NH, you total amount earned as a couple, will change the equation as to how much you owe to MA taxes. They go by the total amount reported on your federal 1040.

then the total is divided by the amount actually earned in MA to give you the ratio.

[buck naked]

They reduce your deductions by the percentage of income reported on your US form 1040.

You make 50,000 in MA, and your spouse makes $50,000 in NH. When you file your out of state MA taxes, all deductions are reduced by 50%, since only half your income comes from MA.

[Norbound]

I worked for 6 mo in nh, where I live, and then 6 mo in ma. I am a nh resident who needs help filing properly. Do I file in both ma and nh seperately, or is there another way?
Thanks

[buck naked]

NH doesn't have state taxes, so you won't have to file NH State tax...


You will have to file MA state tax on the non-resident form. You can only deduct housing costs if the home is in MA.

I worked in Boston for 30 years while living in NH and I rarely got $$ back at all, ever. I took it as a positive, if I didn't have to pay additional MA taxes on top of what they took out of my paycheck.

[buck naked]

if you are single, it's a little easier - but if you are married, both incomes are counted and then reduced by a percentage..as in the example used above.

at least you can deduct what you paid into MA state taxes on your federal income tax forms.

[mlconway05]

My husband is about to start a job in Massachusetts and we are considering living in NH, only because we thought we didn't have to pay income taxes there. We are very confused about how the taxes work. Will we still get MA taxes taken out of our paychecks?

[nicolem]

Originally Posted by mlconway05

My husband is about to start a job in Massachusetts and we are considering living in NH, only because we thought we didn't have to pay income taxes there. We are very confused about how the taxes work. Will we still get MA taxes taken out of our paychecks?

If you work in MA, then yes you will.