NJ Income Tax - Who Must File
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You may be required to file a New Jersey income tax return if you were a full-year resident, a part-year resident, or a nonresident with income from New Jersey sources during the year. A full-year resident reports all income subject to New Jersey gross income tax. The income may be received from any source. A resident who files single or married/CU partner filing separately, and who has gross income of more than $10,000, is required to file a return. For taxpayers whose filing status is either married/CU couple filing joint return, head of household, or qualifying widow(er)/surviving CU partner, the minimum filing threshold is $20,000. A part-year resident is subject to tax on income derived from all sources during his period of residency in New Jersey if his income for the entire year exceeds the filing threshold for his filing status. Similar filing requirements apply for nonresidents.

A New Jersey income tax return must also be filed if you had New Jersey income tax withheld from your wages or paid New Jersey estimated taxes and are due a refund. You must also file a New Jersey resident income tax return to receive a New Jersey earned income tax credit or other credit. You must file a return to receive your refund or credit even if your income is below the minimum filing threshold.

The New Jersey resident income tax return instruction booklet, Form NJ-1040, can be viewed in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. PDF formatted documents contain the same text as the original printed documents. To view them you must have a PDF viewer which is available free from Adobe.