Married filing jointly, but spouse lives and works in a different state.

kuanclover

We are married filing jointly this year. My spouse lives and works in Florida (so no State return needed), but I live and work in Georgia (as of July 2025). So far, I have used my Georgia address for both the federal and state return. So, how do I convey that my spouse does not live and work in Georgia when the FreeTaxUSA site is assuming that my spouse does?

GeorgeM

Hello kuanclover:

When you begin the State section of our software, you may see that “full-year resident” of GA has been pre-selected for you as your state of residence. While GA is your state of residence, in order for our software to recognize that your spouse was not a resident of GA, you need to select “part-year resident” as your residency status.

After selecting Save and Continue, the next screen should be “When did you live in Georgia?,” and it is here where you can enter your dates of GA residence as well as those of your spouse. Because your spouse lived and worked in FL, your spouse’s resident dates for GA will likely be 01/01/2025 to 01/01/2025.

Continue through the our software until you get to the screen “How much did you earn in Georgia?” Here, you should see your total federal income—your income and that of your spouse— and a box where you can allocate that portion of your federal income which is properly allocated to GA. Enter the amount of income that is properly allocated to GA which is likely all of your income given the fact that you lived and worked in GA while you spouse lived and worked in FL.

As you continue through our software, you will also likely see the screen “What are spouse's Georgia income amounts? Leave the GA amount blank given the fact that your spouse lived and and worked in FL. You will also likely see the screen “Part-Year Resident Credit for Taxes Paid to Another State” with “No” pre-selected. You can leave the answer as “No.”

Following the above steps should result in a GA tax return that correctly reflects the resident status for the both of you as joint filers, as well as the correct allocation of income subject to tax by GA, and the correct allocation of deductions (see Schedule 3 of your GA tax return).