Joint tax return for 2024

laziziy

My spouse and I got married last year and we are planning on filing a joint tax return for 2024. I lived in Michigan (full year) and she lives in NY, as we attend different colleges for the time being. She is self-employed, while I am not employed (but have transactions in the stock). How do we file federal and state taxes?

WrenD

Hello laziziy,

These situations can be a bit tricky! What we need to do is check the rules for each state - Michigan and New York.

Michigan: The state's instructions say, "If you filed a joint federal return, you must also file a joint Michigan return."

New York: The state's instructions say that in most cases you must use the same filing status on the state return that is used on the federal. There is an exception for when "one spouse is a New York resident and the other is a nonresident". In this case, they state you can file your New York return separately or you can file jointly as if you were both New York residents.

For New York, it is possible to file your federal return as Married Filing Jointly and then file one New York state return for your spouse as Married Filing Separately. However, since Michigan requires that you use the same filing status as your federal return this would not be advised. This is because if you file the Michigan return jointly, you'd have to report and pay tax on your spouse's NY income.

Therefore, the best way to proceed for 2024 is to file your federal return as Married Filing Separately and then you file a MI return and your spouse files a NY return. To do so, you'll both need an account in our software.