Married Filing Jointly, but wife lived and worked in a different state for part of the year.

Mina

Hello,

I lived and worked in VA all year. I got married in the middle of the year.

As for my wife — before the wedding, she lived in NJ and worked a job in NYC and another job in NJ. After the wedding, she moved to VA and worked a job in VA.

How should I file my return?

My guess is that I would file married filing jointly on the federal return. For the state return, what do I do? Do I file 1 VA state return for myself as married filing separately, and then 3 state returns (NJ, NY, VA) for my wife as married filing separately? How can I do this on Freetaxusa? Is this the best strategy to maximize my refund?

WrenD

Hello Mina,

You are correct that the federal return would need to be filed as married. Jointly is usually the most advantageous as opposed to separately.

For the states, taxes can get a little more complicated for spouses with different residencies. First, you'll need to look at the instructions for each state involved.

1. Virginia: You can file either MFJ or MFS on the state return. "However, if one spouse is a full-year resident and the other spouse is a part-year resident, you may file a joint return using Form 760PY. The part-year resident spouse will compute a prorated exemption amount. The full-year resident spouse will claim the full exemption amount." (Page 7) Also, "If you and your spouse filed separate federal returns, you can file separate state tax returns or you can choose to file a combined return (Filing Status 4). Generally, if you filed a joint federal return and only one spouse is a Virginia resident, the Virginia resident must file a separate Virginia return unless both spouses elect to determine their joint Virginia taxable income as if they were both Virginia residents." (Page 11)

Source: https://www.tax.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/vatax-pdf/2024-760py-instructions.pdf

Please note that when filing using our software, we do not support reporting different dates of residency of the Taxpayer and Spouse when choosing to file using Form 760PY (filing jointly on the part-year resident return).

2. New York: Since she was not a resident that would be a nonresident return and can be filed jointly but with only the New York Source Income being taxed. It can also be filed as a nonresident MFS return.

Source: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/2024/inc/it201i_2024.pdf

3. New Jersey: "If you are married and file a joint federal return, you must also file a joint New Jersey
return. If one spouse was a nonresident during the entire tax year and the other spouse was a resident during any part of the tax year, the resident can file a separate New Jersey return." Filing separately for the NJ return would be best so your wife could also use the Credit for Taxes Paid to Another State for the income taxed by both NJ and NY.

Source: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/current/1040i.pdf

Please note that our software does not allow you to file MFJ on the federal return and MFS on the state return within the same account. To file the federal return MFJ and state returns MFS you will need to create a 2nd account to prepare your state return and a 3rd account to prepare your wife's state returns.

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