Work study "aid" as taxable income

<p>My d goes to college in another state from where we live. She has a work study job on campus and had a summer job in our home state = W-2s from two different states. No tax was taken out of her w/s paychecks. I did her taxes and assumed that she had to file in her home state as well as with the feds. But now I'm wondering if she needs to file in the college's state too. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>The answer is it depends. Assuming the state where her school located has an income tax (some don’t) you need to check the requirements for that state. Most have information on their web sites that provide the requirements for filing non-resident income tax returns. In some states it is fairly simple (e.g. the income earned in the state must exceed a certain amount), in others it is not quite as simply. </p>

<p>If you provide the state, someone here may know; otherwise I would suggest googling something along the lines of “non-resident income tax requirements for [state]”</p>

<p>I noticed from another thread your daughter is in Massachusetts. She has to file their if her income from MA sources is more than her apportioned personal exemption for MA. Ultimately, that means if her total income was more than $4400. That doesn’t necessarily mean she owes any taxes - she may qualify fo “no tax status” if she earned less than $8000 total, but would still need to file if her income was above $4400.</p>

<p>Wow CTScoutmom, thanks for looking us up. Yes, she still is in MA. She made less than $8000, but more than $4400. But her income from work study in MA was only about $1100. Total between her summer job in NY and w/s in MA totaled about $5500. After doing some research, I thought she wouldn’t have to file in MA because her income was below $8000. I’ve found the MASS income tax site hard to decipher (no surprise!). So it sounds like she doesn’t have to file because her MA income from w/study was less than $4400 and her total was less than $8000 (?). I did her taxes last year and didn’t file for her in MA.</p>

<p>her filing threshhold for MA is (MA income)/(Total income)*4400, or $880, so she does need to file, but she won’t owe any taxes in MA, because she will qualify for “No Tax Status”. Unfortunately there are many states where you have to file even when you clearly won’t owe any taxes.</p>