Philly Wage Tax Refund

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
Post Reply
Topic Author
Anon64
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2017 6:38 pm

Philly Wage Tax Refund

Post by Anon64 »

Hi all,
I filed a Philly wage tax refund and got denied. I think I know what I did wrong but figured I'd check in here before waiting another 8 weeks to get denied again.

For 2020, my employer provided a letter that I was required to work from home "during the pandemic." which I understand is March 20 - end of year. I (apparently wrongly) included all of the days I worked from home outside Philly in 2020, including days during Jan-March 19. I'm thinking I should have only included days since March 20th that I was out of Philly. Is that correct as I can only include days that I was "required" to be out of the office for 2020?

Separately, I never submitted a refund request for 2019. It seems like I can submit any days I was voluntarily out of the office outside Philly (not required) for the refund but was wondering if anyone here knows if that's correct

I'll probably just try to find an accountant to deal with this issue (I use turbotax otherwise) but thought I would ask the question here.
Thanks!
bobbyeast
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:35 pm

Re: Philly Wage Tax Refund

Post by bobbyeast »

I can confirm that for 2020 you’re only supposed to report days you were “required” to wfh as dictated by your employer. I received my refund last week. Not sure if the rules were different for 2019 but I’m sure a quick google search will answer that. Although my guess is that you also can’t just list days you voluntarily decided to wfh. You’ll also need some evidence , likely a letter from your employer, to support that
Topic Author
Anon64
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2017 6:38 pm

Re: Philly Wage Tax Refund

Post by Anon64 »

Thanks for your response. I absolutely agree any submission will require proof from the employer. I did call the city and they said I would need to use the paper form (not the online EZ Covid form) if submitting days outside of the Covid period which is what led to the denial.
Janet568
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon May 03, 2021 2:12 pm

Re: Philly Wage Tax Refund

Post by Janet568 »

bobbyeast wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:38 am I can confirm that for 2020 you’re only supposed to report days you were “required” to wfh as dictated by your employer. I received my refund last week. Not sure if the rules were different for 2019 but I’m sure a quick google search will answer that. Although my guess is that you also can’t just list days you voluntarily decided to wfh. You’ll also need some evidence , likely a letter from your employer, to support that
Bobby - good to know the refunds are being paid. I filed 3/11 - via online, with proof from the employer, for Covid days only, and have heard nothing. Can I ask what date you filed? And, did you file online?

Tring to establish a timeline.

Thank you
bobbyeast
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:35 pm

Re: Philly Wage Tax Refund

Post by bobbyeast »

Janet - bit late on my response so not sure how useful this will be but I submitted the form online in late February and received the refund check in early April so about six weeks
corp_sharecropper
Posts: 590
Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2013 1:36 pm

Re: Philly Wage Tax Refund

Post by corp_sharecropper »

I think OP's hunch is correct about what went wrong. This is mostly handled by my wife's employer (thankfully) but she got her refund a loooong time ago. They're not sure they're even going to renew their 2 floors of expensive sky scraper office space. The methods and workings of the wage tax never sat well with me, it's great having this unexpected raise with the prospect of it becoming permanent.
Post Reply