State returns - Married Filing Jointly, different residencies

akaBryan

Hello!

Firstly, forgive me for an ignorance I may have.

I'm married filling jointly. My spouse lived for Jan 2025 - August 2025 in RI. She worked in MA the whole time. Afterward she moved in with me in MA in September 2025, still works in MA.

I lived the full year in MA and all of my income was in RI. How do I designate in the State tax return section this difference? It seems a bit difficult, and with RI and MA laws, it seems you must have the same filing status for RI and MA. On top of that, I don’t know how to work out the dual taxing and if there is any way to minimize that “damage” per se.

Might it just be better to file separate (if that would even help?)

kiarab

Hello akaBryan,

The easiest thing to do in this situation would be to file separately. You would then file a resident MA return and a non-resident RI return. Your resident state taxes you on all of your income, regardless where it is earned and your non-resident state will tax you on income earned from them. To help with the double taxation, you would claim a credit for taxes paid to another state on your MA.

Your spouse would then file two part-year returns. She would claim a credit for taxes paid to another state on her RI return since she worked in MA but lived in RI.

Also, MA does say "A joint Form 1 is generally not allowed unless both spouses were Massachusetts residents for the same portion of 2025." (See page 8 of MA Form 1 Instructions). So in your case, you shouldn't file a joint return anyway.

https://www.mass.gov/doc/2025-form-1-instructions/download