<p>How do state and local taxes work when a student’s parents live in state A where she stays a few weeks/year, she goes to school in state B where she lives for about 9 months, and worked in summer in state C and had an income? If the student is just over 21 but the parent still pays much of the tuition, room, and board, I’m assuming she is still a dependent.</p>
<p>Having gone thru this a couple of years ago, your daughter will need to file a Federal tax return and a return with the state in which she worked. Assume you claim her as a dependent on your tax return?</p>
<p>It is possible that she may not have a to file a state return depending on the state and whether there is state income tax requirement, as well as if she even made enough money to qualify for taxes needing to be paid.</p>
<p>Check with an accountant for clarification.</p>
<p>It will depend completely on the state. Some States do not require an out of stater to file a tax return. Others do. My daughter worked out of state her freshman year. The State she worked in did not require a return. She did have to pay taxes on that income in our home state. Check with both states. I know if your daughter had worked in my State for the summer, she would have had to file a return here (if her total income was such that she had to file a federal return).</p>
<p>Whether a student is a dependent for tax purposes or not is not really relevant in whether they have to file a return, except for the cut off $ point (which varies depending on whether they have unearned income or not). A dependent still may have to file their own returns, federal and state (depending on the state). My daughter is still a dependent for tax purposes (probably the last year). She has had to file returns the last several years because her income is over the standard deduction for a single person (most years because of taxable scholarships/grants, some outside work, work study a couple of years).</p>
<p>One thing to note is whether taxes were withheld from paychecks. If so, you have to file to get them back, if you would be due a refund.</p>
<p>If you know you are going to make less than certain minimum amount, you can request the employer not to withold any income tax, hance there is no tax filing, State or Fedral. The employer needs to withold SS and other unemplyment taxes, nevertheless.</p>
<p>When our oldest was 21, he had a summer job in CA, while going to school in AZ. His unearned income was not large enough to require a CT state income tax return and his earned income in AZ did not require a return there; he was required to file a state return in CA and of, course still had the federal return. We claimed him as a dependent on our (parent) tax returns and also utilized the education tax credits. Our accountant loved us that year.</p>
<p>My kid worked in Wisconsin during the summers she lived/went to school in PA. She had to file as a part-time resident of WI for tax purposes for all the income earned there. Real pain in the butt form because we had to total up all of her income (work study here) and then figure out what percentage of her total income was earned in WI, and all kinds of Mickey Mouse stuff.</p>