紐約州報稅請教 - 紐約

小弟2007秋季班入學NYU,2008年暑假在華爾街的某銀行實習了11週,預計今年五月畢業。
現在在報稅遇到一點小問題,想請教一下有經驗的人。

小弟的W2基本上被預扣了三個稅：
聯邦稅、紐約州稅、紐約市稅。

網路上比較多人討論的是聯邦稅的報法，學校也有提供CINTAX報稅軟體給國際學生使用，
基本上一個小時就可以完成聯邦稅的填表。

真正教人困惑的是紐約州稅跟紐約市稅。

首先，紐約州對於"居民"(Resident)的認定似乎與聯邦的認定不同。我光為了確定我到底
屬不屬於紐約居民，就查了老半天資料。

我嘗試Google了一下紐約州稅的申報,發現大部分紐約學校(比如Cornell及NYU)對於國
際學生的稅務申報建議是填寫非居民的IT-203,但另外查到了一份說法不同的簡報檔:

RIT對於紐約州稅的申報介紹: http://0rz.tw/pLbUJ

RIT這份簡報非常詳細,而且看起來很像是紐約州稅務部門的官方簡報,
裡頭第五頁提到了今年(2008)紐約州稅法對於居民(Resident)與非居民(Nonresident)
認定上做了更動,第11頁更有一個簡易表格來判斷你是不是紐約州居民:

在這個表格的判斷下,我應該是被認定為紐約稅法上的居民(Resident),應該申報IT-150.

我決定查查紐約州政府的官方說法,在Publication 88( http://0rz.tw/Q78XT )中提到:

Generally, if your domicile is not New York State you are considered a
New York state nonresident. However, you are a New York State resident for
income tax purposes if your domicile is not New York State, but you maintain
a permanent place of abode in New York State for more than 11 months of the
year and spend 184 days or more (any part of a day is a day for this purpose)
in New York State during the tax year.

基本上，我去年幾乎一整年都住在紐約市，因此符合超過184天的條件，所以只要我
maintain a permanent place of abode超過11個月，我就被視為紐約居民。

但是，到底什麼是permanent place of abode?

In general, a permanent place of abode is a residence (a building or
structure where a person can live) you permanently maintain, whether you own
it or not, and usually includes a residence your husband or wife owns or
leases.

最教人困惑的就是"permanent"這個字。我的permanent address基本上應該是台灣的家，
所以我就此認定我不是紐約居民，應該遞交IT-203。

可是，IT-203第74欄問到

Nonresidents: Did you or your spouse maintain living quarters in NYS in 2008?

而IT-203的instruction(http://0rz.tw/vyjAk )對於這個問題的解釋如下：

These living quarters would include a house, apartment, co-op or any
other living quarters maintained or paid for by you or your spouse, or any
New York State living quarters maintained for your primary use by another
person, family member or employer.

我租的地方應該就是所謂的living quarter(不確定,有錯請指正)，
所以這個問題我應該填"YES"囉?

但instruction有個大大的NOTE寫著:

Note: If you marked the Yes box, and you spend 184 days or more (any part
of a day is a day for this purpose) in New York State, you may be considered
a resident for New York State income tax purposes. See the definition of
Resident, nonresident and part-year resident on page 57 of these instructions.

In addition, if you marked the Yes box and the living quarters were
located in New York City or Yonkers, you may also be considered a resident of
New York City or Yonkers for income tax purposes.

If you meet the definition of a resident of New York State, New York
City, or Yonkers, you may not file Form IT-203. You must file using either
Form IT-150, Resident Income Tax Return (short form), or Form IT-201,
Resident Income Tax Return (long form).

看完這段，我跟鬼打牆一樣又繞回原點：我到底是不是居民呀?

於是我嘗試著用IT-150也申報看看，發覺稅額的差別是一百多塊美金。差距雖然不大，但
重點是我想要"正確"的報稅呀!!!

有沒有任何熟悉這方面事務的人，可以幫小弟解惑一下嗎?

萬分感謝。

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