Reply #4: My daughter was in the same situation several years ago [View All]

[NEOhiodemocrat]

If you claim her as a dependant on your income tax, then her state of residence is wherever you live. For the other states she received W2 forms from you download a nonresident form from that state's income tax website. For example my daughter was supported by me (because of all the tuition payments mainly!) and she lived in New Jersey the spring term of the year working at Rutgers, the fall of the same year working in Virginia (while she attended George Washington for her masters), and the summer of that year working here at home in Ohio. She was an Ohio resident since I claimed her on my income tax, so I did non resident forms for her for Virginia and New Jersey. Actually when you are a nonresident she got all her money back from those two states (on the state forms) and the forms were fairly easy to decipher. I filed her regular income tax forms as an Ohio resident. It was a pretty complicated matter to figure all that out that year and I am glad that now she just lives in Virginia and works in DC. I am hoping that will be a little easier, at least we have New Jersey out of the mix.
Edit to add, I don't think you will be able to use the free IRS filings as they are generally only for the basic filers. I could be wrong on that however. You could try pluggin in her W2 forms from all the states and see what they come up with thought. I did my daughters by hand.