Author Topic: feds who work from home full time questions  (Read 810 times)

DeniseNJ

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feds who work from home full time questions
« on: March 02, 2022, 12:34:47 PM »
What's your ADS?  We're told that our ADS will be our home address for locality pay purposes if we opt to work from home full time (not come into the office at least twice a pay period).  If my official work place is NJ now instead of NY, do I not have to pay NY taxes anymore?

This decision affects more than a fed's locality pay if it also affects your state taxes.  I pay NY and NJ taxes, and get a portion of the NY taxes bill back, but not all of it.  This might make a big difference.

simonsez

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Re: feds who work from home full time questions
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2022, 01:28:20 PM »
My agency's HQ is in the DC area.  I live in the Midwest.  I pay state taxes only to the state in the Midwest and have done so since 2017.

DeniseNJ

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Re: feds who work from home full time questions
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2022, 11:21:06 AM »
I was just told by the payroll ppl that if I work from home full time they will issue a new sf-50, my official work place will be my home and I will therefore be working and living in the same state.  Now I have to decide if that's better and I think it is.

Catbert

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Re: feds who work from home full time questions
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2022, 12:17:02 PM »
I was just told by the payroll ppl that if I work from home full time they will issue a new sf-50, my official work place will be my home and I will therefore be working and living in the same state.  Now I have to decide if that's better and I think it is.

I'm a long retired Federal HR manager and not a tax person.  To me it sounds like if you official duty station is NJ then you wouldn't need to pay NY taxes.  I would do document when and how often you go to NY for work in case NY isn't pleased with losing your taxes. 

As a retired HR manager it's interesting to see how they are handling permanent remote work.

Peachtea

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Re: feds who work from home full time questions
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2022, 01:46:58 PM »
OPM requires the duty station be the telework site if you are regularly scheduled to work there 9+ days a pay period. So it' should be gov wide that if you start working full time remote from your home, that becomes your duty station and dictates locality pay. I don't know but would guess it also dictates taxes. *Note that full time remote due to pandemic is an exception as it's considered "temporary" even if you've been working remote full time for nearly two years.

simonsez

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Re: feds who work from home full time questions
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2022, 12:25:53 PM »
OPM requires the duty station be the telework site if you are regularly scheduled to work there 9+ days a pay period. So it' should be gov wide that if you start working full time remote from your home, that becomes your duty station and dictates locality pay. I don't know but would guess it also dictates taxes. *Note that full time remote due to pandemic is an exception as it's considered "temporary" even if you've been working remote full time for nearly two years.
Just a guess but I imagine the locality pay would not be changing in this case no matter if working from home in NJ or commuting to NY since the NYC locality pay area includes 17 counties and military bases in New Jersey.  The other 7 counties of NJ are included in the Philadelphia locality area.

OP, if you do happen to live in the part of NJ that falls under the Philadelphia locality pay, then you might want to consider continuing to commute to NY a portion of the time as your pay would be several % points lower (a GS 15-1 makes $152,469 in NYC but $143,314 for comparison).

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2020/locality-pay-area-definitions/#NY-NJ-CT-PA