New to Cleveland : Need help with Taxes (Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights: apartment, to rent)

[BKris]

I am moving to Cleveland this week and I am confused with the tax system followed there. I will be working with Cleveland Clinic and I am looking to rent an apartment in Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights or Mayfield Heights. Can anyone guide me with the how I will be taxed? Is Cleveland Clinic under a RITA community? If so under which community?

I understand from some forums that you will have separate taxes for the place you work and the place you reside.

Please help.

[Boffo]

Hi BKris and welcome to Cleveland,

I'm assuming you will be working at the Cleveland Clinic main campus. If so, your employer will withhold 2% from your pay and send it to the city of Cleveland, so you don't have to file anything with Cleveland. But if you live in Cleveland Heights for instance (all 3 cities you mentioned are RITA communities), you would have to file an income tax return at year end. Cleveland Heights also taxes at a rate of 2% and gives you a credit for 50% of the tax paid to Cleveland. So you would owe an additional 1% to Cleveland Heights. This is addition to filing a state of Ohio tax return.

So if you make 100,000 in salary at the Clinic, you would pay 2,000 in taxes to Cleveland and 1,000 to Cleveland Heights. The Clinic will withhold your Cleveland obligation for you and send it in, but you have to file and pay the Cleveland Heights portion yourself.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[osu4brutus03]

Welcome to cleveland

[Cleveland_Collector]

Boffo is generally correct. The one exception that I find misleading: "If so, your employer will withhold 2% from your pay and send it to the city of Cleveland, so you don't have to file anything with Cleveland."

Just like with the IRS, even if you don't owe anything you still have to file. If you live and work in a RITA community, you file with RITA rather than a specific city. If you live in a RITA community and work in a non-RITA community, you will have to file with both RITA and the non-RITA community. The same goes for if you work in a RITA community and live in a non-RITA community. Fortunately, the latter 2 situations are uncommon most situations require a RITA filing only.

Filing is also very straightforward. You pay on the gross and there are no deductions and few exemptions.

[wnl]

I Had a question related to RITA; I moved to Ohio from Indiana in July. While filing for RITA next year, do I have to include all the out of state income I made prior to my move? I already had local taxes withheld in Indiana. Thanks

[Cleveland_Collector]

No. It's based on residence and where the money was earned. You will owe RITA tax only on what you earned as a resident in the RITA community unless, that is, you worked in a RITA community beforehand. This doesn't seem to be the case.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by BKris

I am moving to Cleveland this week and I am confused with the tax system followed there. I will be working with Cleveland Clinic and I am looking to rent an apartment in Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights or Mayfield Heights. Can anyone guide me with the how I will be taxed? Is Cleveland Clinic under a RITA community? If so under which community?

I understand from some forums that you will have separate taxes for the place you work and the place you reside.

Please help.

Especially if you are a high income earner, I would recommend that you consult a CPA or Enrolled Agent for the first year in Ohio. The tax laws in Ohio are different from many other states and working with a professional will give you an education.

When I lived in the area, my employer paid for the tax preparation (a local CPA firm) for ALL employees.

[wnl]

Ok great, thanks for the replies.