Washington state Taxes for new job (lease, month-to-month, income)

[cwrightw]

Question about taxes:

I moved to WA to work here and started working last August. I was living in Illinois and moved here on 6/30/11. I started on my way out to WA on 7/1/11 and am currently working here. So on my W-2 my address is WA but my driver's license, etc is still Illinois. I pay rent here in WA but pay month-to-month and am not a signed lease. But I am employed in WA and thus my W-2 has my WA address. Can I file my wages here as WA wages or do I have to declare them in Illinois where my 'residence' is even though I moved here for work and 'live' here. This is tricky, thanks for your help!

[Ira500]

If you received some income in 2011 while living in Illinois, or paid Illinois state income tax in 2011, I think you are required to file a Illinois state tax return, even if you use a WA address and live here. There is no state income tax here, so there's nothing you need to file with the state of WA as an amployee.

[Cara76]

You will file as a Washington resident but will put in your taxes that you were a part time Illinois resident and will pay taxes to illinois up until you left.

[pw72]

Yes, it is called a partial resident Illinois return, and it can be a bit confusing. If it were me, I would have someone figure it out for me. As a former Illinois resident, I know that Illinois does track down partial residents and will come after you for those 6 months in IL.

[elkotronics]

Online tax programs like taxactonline.com will figure that kind of thing up for you automatically, that's one of the reasons I like using them to do our taxes.