How to choose Form 540NR; My spouse is CA nonresident through 2024.

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 27, 2025
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Hello,
I am a resident of California in 2024, and I got married in November 2024 to a spouse who is a California nonresident. My spouse was living outside the United States in 2024 and I'm choosing Married Filing Separately option.
I understand that I should use Form 540NR in this case, but TurboTax is automatically using Form 540 instead of Form 540NR, and I am having trouble with this.
Could anyone advise me on how I can make TurboTax use Form 540NR instead?

TomD8

Employee

I believe the TT program is correct. According to this reference, Form 540NR is required when a resident spouse and a non-resident spouse file a joint return.

Part-year resident and nonresident | FTB.ca.gov

Since you as a California resident intend to file your own separate return, it seems that Form 540 would be appropriate for you. Form 540NR would be the appropriate form for your non-resident spouse to use.

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/residency-status/index.html

Be aware that since CA is a community property state, your spouse may have a CA filing requirement since their share of your community property income is CA-sourced. CA taxes non-residents on CA-source income. You may want to review this TT help article:

Married Filing Separately in community property states

Also, see Section M starting on page 10 of this CA tax publication regarding filing separate returns in CA:

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2024/2024-1031-publication.pdf

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.