do I have to pay income taxes to AZ?

[solon]

We're Colorado folk. Live here, work here. My son (20 yo, in college) worked all year in Colorado. But for about 6 weeks this summer he worked in Arizona. He made about $4000. He lived in a hotel, all expenses paid by the company.

Does he have to file an AZ income tax return?

This might be a tough question. If anyone could point me to a tax pro, I'm willing to pay for advice.

[SeattleCPA]

Probably not. But only because his income falls below the filing threshold:

https://azdor.gov/individual-income-tax-filing-assistance/filing-individual-returns#:~:text=In%20the%20state%20of%20Arizona,GI%20is%20greater%20than%20%2424%2C400.

FYI states can tax people either because they're residents. Or because they earn money in the state. But like feds, they use filing thresholds.

BTW, interesting sidenote: So professional athletes? Comedians touring? Musicians? They all file a bajillion state returns because they have income from a bunch of different states. And then they're usually easily over the filing thresholds.

[solon]

Thanks, I appreciate the help.

Do you think that link is referring to total income, or just income earned in AZ?

Ideally, it should be that AZ would tax only income earned in AZ, and CO would tax only income earned in CO. But I know in some places it's more complicated than that.

[SeattleCPA]

I think you may need to file. Your posts don't provide enough detail to definitely answer.

But here's the rule of thumb, online forum answer and it is a good answer for every question like this: If in doubt, just file...