Help: NH resident working in the Peoples Communist Repulik of mASSachusetts

[doobie]

Just wondering if anyone else out here lives in NH and works in MA....  I used to live/work in MA, but moved to NH.

I currently work from home about 50% of the time, but I can't get work to stop deducting 'MA tax'  I've tried increasing my exemptions (anyone know the max you can set it to?  I went from 0-10 and it only lowered taxes by like $20), but even what it is at now, I currently paid in more than they claim they can steal.  Work has also stated they won't do anything where they state I worked out of state 'X number of days', which means I'm responsible for my taxes, etc.  The payroll department is either really confused or not understanding me, but as far as I can tell they stated "Even if you worked from home, we would still be required to collect taxes based on either your resident state or the state you are working out of (which is MA)".

Anyone else in a similar situation and have suggestions on how to get work to stop being an accomplice to this theft?  I'm thinking of asking my manager to see if I can get a 'transfer' to our Nashua office.  Beyond that it would be a serious look into a job in NH.

[DigitalWarrior]

What you do, if you are inclined to act lawfully, is to pay the full taxes.  I would not recommend claiming additional Dependants as it could make things "interesting" during some kind of audit.

Track the number of hours worked from home versus the number of hours worked total in a log book.  If you are salaried, then reading e-mail after work counts. 

At the end of the year, file a tax report that reduces the amount of taxable income by (( home_hrs / total_hrs ) * pay).  You are only obligated to pay taxes on the portion of money you earn in Mass.  KEEP THE LOGBOOK FOR A HALF DECADE.

As far as compelling your employer to be honest... That is out of my league.  I have always worked for honest and capable companies.

DW

[doobie]

What you do, if you are inclined to act lawfully, is to pay the full taxes.  I would not recommend claiming additional Dependants as it could make things "interesting" during some kind of audit.

Track the number of hours worked from home versus the number of hours worked total in a log book.  If you are salaried, then reading e-mail after work counts. 

At the end of the year, file a tax report that reduces the amount of taxable income by (( home_hrs / total_hrs ) * pay).  You are only obligated to pay taxes on the portion of money you earn in Mass.  KEEP THE LOGBOOK FOR A HALF DECADE.

As far as compelling your employer to be honest... That is out of my league.  I have always worked for honest and capable companies.

DW

Yeah, but my point being I don't want to be giving them the free loan.... We're talking I'm probably paying an extra month or two of my normal expenses every year that I will get back....  in April/May/June/July/whenever MA decides.

I am usually honest, but taking my money that I am not required to pay and not even paying interest is theft plain and simple.  Doublely so since I've had people tell me MA doesn't always 'take your word for it' and sometimes tries to require the company to provide proof, which my company 'doesn't do.'

[Nat F]

I live in NH and work in MA.  I can't offer much help but I was able to convince a prior employer to properly apportion my wages between NH and MA.  In fact they told me that if I ever shifted to less than 50% in MA I would become responsible for witholding my own MA income tax.  For other employers I've had to self apportion my wages, thus giving MA that dreaded interest free loan.  However the apportionment has also been much higher MA wages than while I was at Freescale.

Here's an updated link to the MA DOR web page that might help you convince your employer to properly apportion your wages.  Having an official government paperwork that mentions apportioning wages helped me convince my HR department.
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=dorterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Individuals+and+Families&L2=Personal+Income+Tax&L3=Personal+Income+Tax+FAQs&sid=Ador&b=terminalcontent&f=dor_help_nonres&csid=Ador#12

Here's a link to my posts last time I recall this coming up a few years ago.
http://nhunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=6270.msg109266#msg109266

-Nat

[doobie]

Thanks Nat.

My company has stated they won't track or report any time spent working out of the state.  Which is going to be fun.  I'm working now to try to convince them to list me as working out of the Nashua office.

/Jason

[PowerPenguin]

I don't know about MA tax law, but if you're interested in legally reducing your "mandatory donation" to the feds, check out http://homebusinesstaxsavings.com. The guy that owns that company is an ageist SOB with post-military entitlement issues like Ian mentioned on the show this week, but he does know his stuff.

[doobie]

SO on my fourth time around.... of me just getting "We cannot give you advice.. see a tax lawyer..."  I finally got, "Your question is being elevated."

I don't have my exact question, but it was something to the extent that since I work from home a % of the time and my mASS taxes should be apportioned...  either they need a way for me to report it or provide me with a way to adjust my withholdings because the way I see it is that they are an accomplice to the theft of my earnings to mASS and are providing them with a interest free loan on money that is mine and I *need* rather than giving to mASS to hold on to me until April...  We'll see what if anything comes of it.

[doobie]

Oh this is fun.... so payroll came back and said they don't do anything...but speak to your manager and see if they would draft a letter to include with my taxes.... I did.... and he was like, "it's not like you work out of state that much.'  I mentioned my 5 weeks in the other PCR and working 20% of the time from home since I WFH on fridays....wow that didn't go over well...

Apparently... my box lead was supposed to tell me I can't WFH on a regular basis.

Bastards X 10.

[Nat F]

Here's an updated link to the MA DOR web page that might help you convince your employer to properly apportion your wages.  Having an official government paperwork that mentions apportioning wages helped me convince my HR department.
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=dorterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Individuals+and+Families&L2=Personal+Income+Tax&L3=Personal+Income+Tax+FAQs&sid=Ador&b=terminalcontent&f=dor_help_nonres&csid=Ador#12

Figured I'd revisit this topic since I have a fairly significant update.  I was recently audited by the MA Department of Revenue for a tax year where I self apportioned my MA wages to be significantly lower than what my employer reported.

The MA DOR accepted my personal records for days worked in MA versus days worked out of MA after initially mailing me an assessment as if 100% of my wages were earned in MA.  I attempted to get documentation from my employer during that time but ended up unable to do so during the audit's time frame.  They did end up assessing me a small amount for a difference in how they wanted me to make my calculations (I counted vacation and holidays as days worked, they did not).

All in all it was a much less unpleasant experience than I expected and I now have proof that the MA DOR will accept a non resident's personal records as a proof for alternative basis of apportionment.

-Nat

[PaulOtt]

For a while I was an employee for a company in NYC while living in NH, and I was required to pay NY income tax due to NY being the "source" of my income.

[ByronB]

Since March of '08 I have had 99 dependents claimed so that I would get more of my check... so I would think you could list that many at least.

[doobie]

Here's an updated link to the MA DOR web page that might help you convince your employer to properly apportion your wages.  Having an official government paperwork that mentions apportioning wages helped me convince my HR department.
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=dorterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Individuals+and+Families&L2=Personal+Income+Tax&L3=Personal+Income+Tax+FAQs&sid=Ador&b=terminalcontent&f=dor_help_nonres&csid=Ador#12

Figured I'd revisit this topic since I have a fairly significant update.  I was recently audited by the MA Department of Revenue for a tax year where I self apportioned my MA wages to be significantly lower than what my employer reported.

The MA DOR accepted my personal records for days worked in MA versus days worked out of MA after initially mailing me an assessment as if 100% of my wages were earned in MA.  I attempted to get documentation from my employer during that time but ended up unable to do so during the audit's time frame.  They did end up assessing me a small amount for a difference in how they wanted me to make my calculations (I counted vacation and holidays as days worked, they did not).

All in all it was a much less unpleasant experience than I expected and I now have proof that the MA DOR will accept a non resident's personal records as a proof for alternative basis of apportionment.

-Nat

I broke it down for my tax guy saying "Days in MA, Days Out of MA, Holidays, Vacation, Weekend"

I've also had my withholdings set to 40 which seemed close, but I just changed it to 50.  We'll see how it goes...