Is there a state tax that needs to be paid if moving to another state? (sale)

[2kidsimdone]

We are moving to PA. We just signed a contract on our house here in Nj. Is there a tax paid to NJ if selling and moving to another state?

[sholden]

Nothing above the tax paid on selling and not moving to another state.

They'll withhold it if you are moving out of state since convincing people not residing in the state to pay taxes owed is harder than convincing those living in the state, but after you file your NJ taxes and either pay them some more of get a refund it'll work out exactly the same as if they hadn't.

[GJM]

I believe this has been asked before -

It is a Real Estate Transfer tax, I forget the percentage, everybody pays it.

[MaverickDD]

A repeat of an earlier posting by me on August 12, 2008:

Some states, such as Pennsylvania, do not follow the federal rule for excluding the gain on your personal residence from their state income tax. In cases like this, it is very important that your New Jersey home is sold prior to the date you establish residency in the new state. If not, you'll pay a "welcome tax" to Pennsylvania!

Example: You buy your new home in PA on August 12. You move on August 15. You then return to New Jersey and close the sale of your old home on August 22. Guess what? Since you became a Pennsylvania resident on August 15, you are a Pennsylvania resident on August 22 when your New Jersey home is sold. The State of Pennsylvania will charge you income tax on the gain from the sale of your old New Jersey residence. Welcome to PA!

To avoid the state income tax, you must sell your old residence before you move. To have ironclad protection, sell before you even buy the new house in the new state.

There are only a handful of states where this is a concern, but our neighbor to the west is one of them.