Married filed jointly but my spouse is a resident of different state

aam.mn@d97

Hello, we are a recently married couple.

I live in Texas and she is a resident of New York, while also working there. However, after we got married, she stopped working and moved in with me in Texas.

Can we still file married jointly? I notice that New York residents require a state tax to file. How will this affect our MFJ return?

Thanks.

KeriC

@aammnd97
You can still file jointly for your federal return. NY requires that you use the same filing status as your federal return unless your NY state residency status differs between taxpayer and spouse.

 When your residency status differs, you must either:
o file separate New York returns using filing status 3 (MFS); or
o file jointly, as if you both were New York State residents, using filing status 2 (MFJ).

You are welcome to file using whichever filing status provides the most benefit on the NY tax return. Our software doesn't have a way to change the state filing status used on your federal return. If you choose to file MFJ for federal and MFS for NY so that only your wife's income is taxable by NY, you will need to create an additional account for her state return.

If you create an account to file a MFS NY return for her, you will need to enter all information as if the federal return is also using MFS status. When you are ready to file, you will need to select the option to mail both federal and state returns within this account and then only mail in the state return.