Have a ? regarding taxes and unemployment (deduction, withholding, debt, tax)

[sjea0124]

I need some help regarding filing my taxes:

I was laid off in Oct 2010 from my job in Illinois. In Feb 2011 my family and I moved to Florida (no state taxes) to be closer to my parents and established residency and have our place. I am receiving unemployment wages still from Illinois since that is where I held my previous job and I am having state taxes garnished. Here is my question:

Since I only lived in Illinois for 1.5 months in 2011 before changing residency, do I still need to have state tax garnished since I no longer live in Illinois? Reason I am asking is I went to file my taxes and it says I owe quite a bit of money to State of Illinois but with TaxAct software you can put that you were partial resident and pay partial taxes and it has you break down how much you made during the time you lived in this state which would bring down the amount I owe substantially.

Sorry if this sounds confusing!

Thanks!!

[myrc60]

Yes, you would claim as a part-year resident in Illinois.

[sweetana3]

Question: Garnished is a term we used for collecting prior year taxes already determined to be owed. "Withholding" is a term used for holding back a portion of some income to pay for current year taxes. Which is the deduction from your unemployment?

If garnished, changing residency is not a factor. Just clarifying what the true issue is.

[md21722]

I think the OP meant he is having state tax withheld from his unemployment checks as sweetana3 mentioned. Typically wages are garnished by a court order when you have a judgement against you for failure to pay taxes are debt.

Since you are now a Florida resident, you do not need to have IL state tax withheld. You will need to file taxes in IL for 2011 as a part year resident and file as a non-resident in IL for 2012 to get your money back.