Question

Can I file state tax for one as Married filing separately (VA) and for another state as Married filing jointly (NJ) when my wife and I are filing federal taxes jointly?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 5, 2019
2 replies
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TurboTax Deluxe Online

You can file married, separate in Virginia, but the rules vary based on whether you are a resident, non-resident or part-year resident, and also where both spouses live. The following text is from the Virginia website (https://www.tax.virginia.gov/filing-status)

Note that TurboTax may or may not offer you the chance to change filing status, depending on which case below you match.

Resident:

Filing Status 3 - Married, Filing a Separate Return: If you and your spouse filed separate federal returns, you may use this filing status. If you and your spouse filed a joint federal return, but only one of you is a Virginia resident, the resident must use Filing Status 3.

Non-resident:

Filing Status 4 - Married, Filing a Separate Return: A separate Virginia return MUST be filed if: (1) both husband and wife are nonresidents and have income from Virginia sources, but do not choose to file a joint return under Status 2; or (2) both husband and wife are nonresidents and both had income, but only one had income from Virginia sources; or (3) only one spouse is a nonresident and the couple cannot elect to file a joint resident return.

Part-year resident:

Filing Status 3 - Married, Filing a Separate Return: If you and your spouse filed separate federal returns, you may use this filing status. If you and your spouse filed a joint federal return, but only one of you is a Virginia resident, the resident must use Filing Status 3.

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S

skylark28

OK, so then how does one do it? I click the thing that says it's not common, but explains why I might need to, but there's absolutely no clear way to do it. I even tried to go to the forms and fix it there, but it won't let me. It's clear from the VA instructions that my filing needs to be married separate while my fed was married joint. So why won't the software let me override?

fanfare

Employee

You definitely don't want to override.

You also want to avoid complex filing patterns that you can't even figure out how to initiate, let alone complete correctly.

E

edwardandsarah

Was there ever a resolution to this question? I’m in the same boat. My wife received a 1099-NEC from VA. We both live full-time in MD and work full-time in MD. I don’t have any VA income so I’m guessing my wife will need to file Married, Filing a Separate Return. No clue how to do it though.

V

Vanessa A

Yes. If you are non-residents of VA and only one spouse has income for VA, you can file as Married Filing Separate for the VA non resident return.

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E

edwardandsarah

I looked a bit further.

Found this for nonresidents of Virginia:

Filing Status 2 - Married, Filing a Joint Return: You and your spouse may file a joint return if: (1) you filed a joint federal return; or (2) neither of you was required to file a federal income tax return; and (3) both spouses had income from Virginia sources. If only one spouse had income from Virginia sources, a separate return must be filed under Status 4. If one spouse had Virginia source income and the other spouse had no income from any sources, use Filing Status 3.

We satisfy 1) so we are able to file a joint return. Is that your understanding?