04 Apr What income has to be reported on the new Stay NJ application?

Q. When applying for Senior Freeze in prior years, you had to include all income including income you’re not required to report on your New Jersey tax return. The new PAS-1 form instructions only list income from a few lines on NJ-1040. Is it correct that regular pension income, capital gains plus others need not be included anymore?
— Homeowner

A. People have a lot of questions about the new combined application, which includes ANCHOR, Senior Freeze and the new Stay NJ benefit.

What income you must report is a common question.

The new Form PAS-1, Application for Property Tax Relief, requires an entry on line 17 of 2024 NJ income from Worksheet B, said Neil Becourtney, a certified public accountant and tax director with Smolin, Lupin & Co. in Red Bank.

He said Worksheet B starts with NJ total income and is increased by tax-exempt interest income, excludable pension, annuity, IRA distributions, Roth IRA rollovers and Social Security benefits.

“The `NJ total income’ starting point is line 27 from Form NJ-1040, which would include your regular pension income, capital gains, etc.,” he said. “The instructions for Worksheet B are not all inclusive of items that would be added to income reported on Form NJ-1040. An example is unemployment compensation, which is never taxable for New Jersey purposes.”

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This story was originally published in April 2025.

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