How are state & fed income taxes filed when living apart from spouse part of year?
I live and work in CA part of year (claim residency). Spouse resides in another state and claims that state as residence, also paying state income taxes.
Public Comments
- A joint Federal return will lower your tax. For state you should file joint nonresident returns in both states so you can exclude the spouse income earned in another state. Although one of you is a resident of each state the only way to do this is to file jointly on nonresident forms.
- Federal and State laws vary. Go to www.irs.gov, individual, and on the left side of the page it has States. Link to your States and see what their rules are. In some States, you can file MFJ on Federal and married file separate on the same return(s) for the State. good luck & bless
- You can still file a joint Federal return regardless of where you live. How you will handle state taxes will depend upon the states in question. Generally you can file joint returns in both states, listing only the income from that state. States with graduated income tax rates may assess tax on the resident's portion as if the entire joint income was taxable. CA does do this. A few states (VA is one) will require the resident spouse to file a separate return to exclude the non-resident spouse's income from tax, even if a joint Federal return was filed. You'll have to contact both state tax departments to determine how to properly file the state returns, and which way would be the most advantageous.
