anyone smart?

Hmmmm....never have let anyone else do my taxes...but at one point I was a graduate student earning income in Massachusetts but a resident of Rhode Island.

What I recall is....

You have to pay taxes on all of it to the federal government (duh...that's important).

I filled out a Massachusetts NONRESIDENT tax form.  It asks you for your total income and what portions of your income came from that state and you pay taxes accordingly.  Sounds like you would do this for Indiana unless you are a resident of Indiana.

I filled out a Rhode Island RESIDENT tax form and paid them taxes on all my income no matter where it was earned because I was a resident of that state.

So, does that make sense?  Are you a resident of SD?  That would help me help you.

Investments are easy to figure out...the 1040 form tells ya how to do it...just follow the directions.

As for itemized deductions...can't help you there, never done it.  But as I recall you are single and don't own your own home?  You PROBABLY are better off with the standard deduction....but I don't know your finances.  Anyway, if you want to PM me more details if that didn't help I can probably help you out....

okay. According to tax law what determines residency? I was a resident of Indiana while I worked there. I then moved to SD which I consider myself a resident of. My billing address is a SD billing address. All my income is now based in SD and I'm registered to vote here... So am I technically a SD resident now or do i still have to file as an IN resident?  The only thing linking me to IN is my truck plates and drivers license, only because I just renewed them and they aren't up for a while.

I hope I can file as a SD resident, as we don't have state income tax...

Hi Matt -

I live in Illinois, work in Indiana so I'm in much the same situation (there's no reciprocal agreement between the two states).  I used Turbo Tax online and paid the bucks to get the State modules as well -- walked me through all of it without any problems.  Oh - and I'm certainly no accountant!

And the way my taxes worked out -- all my state tax goes to  Indiana because that's where I worked.  On my Illinois return, I essentially get credit for having paid Indiana and owe nothing. 

okay, I think I will get turbo tax.

My parents live in Indiana.  I was working and going to school in Indiana, graduated, worked there for 6 months, then tore up roots and moved here.  Now I live and work here with the only ties to Indiana being a bank account there and my plates still being from there.

You don't even need to "get" it, as in going to the store. Just do it online, and you pay when you're done. And the cost for TurboTax is deductable as well. 

Matt, you cannot vote in a state in which you are not a resident.  You SHOULD have had to provide a South Dakota Drivers license to GET your voter registration there.  Good rule of thumb is that wherever your drivers license is, that's your state of residence and the only place you can legally vote.  Car doesn't really matter as much.  You could have your SD drivers license and voter registration and keep your car registered in Indiana until it expired.  But once it expired you would have to register it in SD.

So, I do not think you are a SD resident.  Should've swapped the license when you moved and then you would only have had to pay taxes to Indiana for half the year.  That is what I did when I moved to TX.  Got a TX license the day I moved here in Jul 03 and thus avoided paying half a year's state taxes to RI.

You got $9600 back? That Turbo Tax missed? Sweet, except you gave the government a big interest-free loan.

Really doesn't sound like the OP's return is complicated enough to warrant a CPA.

TurboTax must not have told him he didn't have to report the 30 grand he had stashed in his account on the Caymans.

True...in MANY states you have to live there a certain amount of time before they will consider you a resident.  Bottom line, he STILL has to pay taxes to Indiana.  And really should get a SD license if he intends to be a resident there.  I think I understand what you're saying about the part-year residency, but I think you are using the wrong phrase.  You are talking about earning income in a state, or paid by an employer in that state.  If you're employer isn't in the state in which you have residency, it's different.  I get paid by the federal government.  So my taxes WERE based on my duration of time as a resident.  The one time I filled out a part-year resident form I paid taxes to RI ONLY for the money I earned while I was a resident of RI...i.e. the DURATION of residency.  The second I changed my residency, on any further income that year I did not owe taxes to RI.  Even if my income doubled the second half of the year it didn't matter.  I wasn't a resident anymore.  RI couldn't touch any of that money.

In Matt's case here...he definitely needs to pay taxes to Indiana on the money he earned there.  And IMHO he may not truly be a SD resident and should either look into that or just pay Indiana taxes on the money he earned in SD.  Typically, if SD had an income tax, SD would tax that money and Indiana would give you a credit for most or all of that.  But since SD doesn't have tax...no credit.  Residency definitely involves rules and if you are in doubt at all you gotta look it up or risk getting audited. 

P.S. Especially since you are a student living there (do you have another job besides that) you might not be considered a SD resident...

well according to the turbo tax site, I can consider myslef a resident as soon as the moving truck arrives and I have a residence.

I don't have another job, but I am considered an employee of the school beacuse of my assistanceship.  Fortunatly I didn't make enough last sememster to even qualify to file state taxes 

yeah i think turbo tax is great.  in 2004 i worked and lived in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.  That was a fun tax year.  Did it all with Turbo Tax.  Oh, and like you, I had some dividends and income, etc, from some investment type stuff.  It's all very easy when using T.tax.

the more I think about it....

The majority of my income was in indiana.  I didn't earn enough here to be taxable or for my tuition deduction to matter.

So....if I file as an Indiana resident, don't I get to take that tuition deduction off my Indiana taxes, as well as my huge as rent payments for the year? 

I thought all the tuition deductions were on the federal taxes?  Do you qualify for Lifetime Learning Credits?  Because a tax credit is better than a deduction...

NO idea on the rent...the only time I've been able to take a rental deduction was on my Massachusetts Non-Resident Tax Form.  I've never even SEEN it on any other tax form.

Bear, that's why I now use a CPA.  The whole mogul thing - it just keeps getting more complicated.

Jim, 'he?'  That hurts.  Guess I should have brought you a burrito at MiamiMan too.