Out-of-State Royalty Owners: Check Before You Pay That PA Tax Bill

An MDN subscriber who receives Marcellus royalties wrote to us (quite a while ago) to warn other landowners. Pennsylvania's Department of Revenue (DOR) keeps sending him state income tax bills for amounts his driller already withheld from his royalty checks and sent to Harrisburg. Not once. Not twice. FOUR times, by his count. Each time, his accountants had to step in and get the bill thrown out. His advice to fellow royalty owners: don't pay a DOR tax bill until you've confirmed the tax wasn't already withheld and paid. We dug into how this can happen and why landowners living outside Pennsylvania are most likely to get these letters. Here's what we found, and what to do if one lands in your mailbox.

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