NJ goes after NY for taxing residents who work at home
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A bill that could give New Jersey residents a credit for income taxes paid to other states is on its way to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.
The legislation, which already passed the Assembly, was approved by the state Senate on Friday afternoon during a marathon session before the Legislature’s summer recess.
The bill will create a “convenience of the employer” test for residents of other states that impose a similar test. It would require New Jersey to adopt its own “convenience of the employer” rule, so the state could tax people that work for companies based in New Jersey if they work from home in another state because it’s easier for them.
It would also create a tax credit for people who pay income tax or wage tax in another state and it would establish a grant program for New Jersey businesses to assign employees that live in New Jersey to New Jersey locations.
Among the other states to impose similar tests is New York. Their law says that if someone works from home for their own convenience, as opposed to because of a company mandate, those days are treated as days worked in their office.
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Sen. Joe Lagana, D-Bergen, noted that there are multiple train lines that run through his district where “people work for New York companies but are now being told to work from home.”
Congestion pricing played a role
He also noted that the “congestion pricing debacle” played a part in making this happen and that it doesn’t apply to Pennsylvania because the two states have an agreement.
“This is a tremendous benefit. This is probably one of the biggest, most forward-thinking tax policies we’ve adopted in a long time,” Lagana said. “It will help our employees and say to our neighboring state ‘we’re going to do to your residents what you do to our residents.’ It’s just a matter of fairness.”
The credit would be equal to 50% of the taxes owed to New Jersey after the readjustment of New Jersey’s credit for taxes paid to another state.
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Christopher Emigholz, the chief government affairs officer for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said in a statement that New Jersey has a “lot of people that have not worked in Manhattan for a day in years and yet they’re paying all of their income taxes to New York State.”
“There are estimates that it could be billions of dollars that New Jersey is losing out on,” Emigholz said. “That can go toward a lot of important things that we talk about in the scope of the budget process.”
The New Jersey Society of Certified Professional Accountants also supports the bill. Their CEO and executive director Aiysha Johnson called it a “reasonable and necessary counterstrike at states that have been unfairly and aggressively taxing New Jerseyans who work from home.”
“We hope that the measure will act as a catalyst to end this treatment, which would raise billions of dollars for New Jersey,” Johnson said.
A companion bill unanimously passed the Assembly last month.
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