Wednesday, January 21, 2015

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2014 STATE TAX RETURNS?


The 2014 NJ state, and all of the 2014 NY state, forms and returns are now available at the websites of the respective tax agencies.  Click here for NJ and here for NY.

As I believe I said in a previous post, there appears to be no changes to the NY state forms – other than the fact that the standard deduction amounts have been adjusted for inflation and there is now a separate form for reporting addition and subtraction adjustments.

As for the NJ-1040 – the only things new for 2014 are the following -

(1) If you were a homeowner during 2014 you must now enter the Block and Lot, and, if applicable, Qualifier, Numbers, and the 4-digit “Municipal Code” (listed in the instruction book), for the property that you owned and occupied as your principal residence on December 31, 2014, along with the property taxes paid (not new), on the bottom of Page 2 of the NJ-1040.  If you were not a homeowner on December 31, enter the information for the last home you owned and occupied during the year.  If you were a tenant there is no need to make any entries on the new lines 37(b) and 37(c).

(2) If your paid preparer is required to file all returns electronically, but you want to file a paper return, you can “opt-out” of electronic filing by enclosing Form NJ-1040-O, E-File Opt-Out Request Form, with your paper return. Both you and your preparer must sign the form, and your preparer must fill in the oval above his or her signature on your return to indicate that Form NJ-1040-O is enclosed.

Since the only way I can submit NJ-1040s electronically is via the NJWebFile system, as I do not, and will never, use flawed and expensive tax preparation software, and there are a lot of restrictions that forbid me from using this system for many returns, I guess I will be signing a lot of NJ-1040-O forms this season.

I have taken a look at the eligibility requirements for using NJWebFile for 2014, and, with the exception of increasing the maximum number of W-2s you can report, it appears that most of the previous restrictions still remain.  Perhaps most important – you cannot use NJWebFile if you are claiming a credit for excess FLI insurance contributions.  Why, I have no idea.  I guess NJDOT is too cheap to pay to have someone fix the software.

I thought the Director had said that taxpayers could submit the “filled-in” 2014 Form NJ-1040 available at the NJDOT website “electronically” – but this is not discussed on the website.  I guess I will need to wait until actually preparing a 2014 NJ-1040 using the “filled-in” option to see if this can be done.

Something else new -

Paper copies of New Jersey Tax forms are not available at public sites such as libraries or post offices. Public libraries that offer computer access may allow patrons to download/print forms from this website.  Because all forms are available on this site and can be photocopied, multiple copies of any form will not be provided, regardless of whether the request is made by email, calling the Customer Service Center, or by visiting a Division of Taxation Regional Office.” 
 
I will let you know if there is anything else new for the 2014 NJ-1040 as, or if, more information becomes available. 

TTFN

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It has become extremely difficult to obtain paper copies of the NJ tax forms and booklets from the NJ Division of Taxation. Contrary to what they say on the NJ website, they do NOT mail the paper booklets to anyone who filed a paper return the previous year. Requests by telephone to mail out a copy of the tax booklet seem to be unfilled a high percentage of the time, around 50%.

Anonymous said...

Nowhere does it tell you how to fill in line 37b Block and Lot number for ownership of a co-op on the NJ return. Co-ops can have one Block and Lot number and can have 100 apartments.