Married Filing Federal Jointly but living in two states (Ohio and Georgia)

edgar012
edgar012 Member Posts: 1 Newcomer
in Filing my taxes

Hello!

My spouse lives in Ohio and has lived and earned all income in Ohio for the entire year and similarly, I have lived in Georgia and earned all my income there. The issue I was having is that I can only file taxes for Georgia in the software alongside the federal return and not for Ohio when completing a federal married filing joint return. The software recommends filing the federal return as married separate but that might cause tax liability issues. Is that the only solution in the software?

Answers

  • MatthewD
    MatthewD FreeTaxUSA Admin, FreeTaxUSA Agent Posts: 963 image
    edited April 2

    Hi edgar012,

    This is a complex situation. Although, GA has an exception for filing a joint federal return and a separate GA return (mentioned below), OH requires that you file using the same status as your federal return. They do have a nonresident credit, however, our software does not support that credit.

    So, in your case your best option is to file married filing separate on your federal return and state return. This will require two accounts. One for you and one for your spouse. See below for link to the GA and OH instructions.

    GA page 15. https://dor.georgia.gov/document/document/2025-it-511-individual-income-tax-booklet

    Married Filing Jointly:
    Taxpayers who are married filing jointly with mixed
    Georgia residencies are allowed to file separate
    returns claiming their own allowable exemptions, and
    deductions, or file a joint return. If filing a joint return:
    Enter 2: If one spouse is a resident and the other
    is a part-year resident or nonresident,
    Enter 2: If both spouses are part-year residents,
    Enter 3: If both spouses are nonresidents

    OH page 15: https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/v1767095693/tax.ohio.gov/forms/ohio_individual/individual/2025/it1040-booklet.pdf

    If you and your spouse filed a joint federal return,
    you must file a joint Ohio income tax return even if
    one or both of you are nonresidents of Ohio. You may
    claim the nonresident credit (see the Ohio Schedule
    of Credits) for income not earned or received in Ohio.
    If you and your spouse filed separate federal returns,
    you must file separate Ohio returns.

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