Detroit Non-Resident Tax Refunds

So, I'm a non-resident who works in Detroit, filling out my Detroit taxes, as I do faithfully every year. Been giving the city my 1.5 percent or whatever it is for the last 20 years. Every year I get back about $50, or at least I'm supposed to. I just realized I didn't get my refund check at all for 2011. And for the couple of years before that, before sending a refund check, the city has gone the extra step of requiring me to submit a log to justify my time not worked in the city. I did it, but hated the extra time it took. Ain't nobody got time for that. Question: do other nonresidents have to jump thru a similar hoop? The cynic in me sees this as an easy money grab by the city: just don't send out refund checks or make it a pain in the arse so that no one will bother trying to get their money. Anyone with a similar experience?

I had the same experience as long as 15+ years ago. I never received a refund and started calling about Sept-Oct. Frequently, the phone would ring 20-25 times and no one would answer. A actually got through a couple of times and the rep said she didn't know when the refund would be sent.

The following year, I treated the unsent refund as if I had told the city to apply it to my next year's taxes. I received a letter stating they had no record of that, and I responded that they had my money and I never received a refund. I never heard anything else.

From that point forward, I changed my withholding of city tax to be sure that I always owed the city a little when I filed and would not get a refund. For several years I also split my time [[about 80% in and 20% out of city). I was never asked to support the split.

Both my husband and I work in the city. In our 10+ years of paying taxes we have only received a refund once. We have been told on a few occasions that the refund would be applied to the next year's refund since it was always under $50. Obviously that was not the case. We let it go and considered it a "charitable donation." It was never worth the hours of go-around on the phone to try and collect.

ive not gotten a refund since 2005. i dont recall what i might have gotten prior to that [[back to 1997)...

yes, ive had to justify on COMPANY LETTERHEAD, signed by the HR director my time paid but not 'earned' while in detroit. i.e. tech training in warren, paid personal days, paid vacations...

i too adjusted my withholding so that i owe nothing and i just quit filing returns...

yes. it IS a scam. i live better than 60 miles from detroit so what am i going to do to 'try to get it back'?