Married couple (1 in FL, 1 in CA)

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
January 25, 2024
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My wife has been working in FL since 2019 and never moved states. I started working remotely for a CA company in 2021 and they withheld CA tax for 2021 and 2022.

For 2021 and 2022, we filed jointly for Federal and CA (and I got a full refund for CA as I never touched the state). I am worried I should have filed jointly for Federal and Separate for CA (just me). In any case, the refund would have been the same.

In 2023, I moved to CA and my wife stayed in FL (never touched CA). So I think I should file Joint for Federal and then Separate for CA (and I am the only one that needs to file in CA, she doesn't given how I understand the rules).

How do I treat my children (they stayed in FL) and joint investment accounts? What about prior year loss carryovers?

DavidD66

According to the California Franchise Tax Board:

If you file a joint tax return for federal purposes, you may file separately for California if either spouse was either of the following:

An active member of the United States armed forces or any auxiliary military branch during 2023.
A nonresident for the entire year and had no income from California sources during 2023.

Since Florida is not a Community Property state, community property rules do not apply. If you have income from sources that are owned jointly (such as interest, dividends, and capital gains) you will need to report half of that income. The same for loss carryovers. As for the children, you can claim them as dependents on your California state tax return.

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TomD8

Employee

For more detail on how to report your income on your California return, see the Type 3 example on page 13 of this California tax publication:

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2023/2023-1031-publication.pdf

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

filer12345Author

Thank you. This is very helpful. I am still confused by some things. In 2021 and 2022 when my employer withheld CA taxes when I was residing in FL, I filed (by mistake) MFJ in CA even though I could have done MFS as my spouse never touched CA nor had any CA income or CA employer. So my concern is for 2023, when I moved to CA (she stayed in FL), should I do MFJ or MFS? Per the rules it seems I can do MFS and she doesn't have to file, but it might be the same as FL is not Community Property State.

When I filed prior years with CA (got full refund), I had loss carryovers from investments. Now that I become a CA resident, can I use those carryovers or not because they were generated outside of CA?

Lastly, I don't have a permanent address in CA. Can I use our FL address for both Federal and State returns? I travel back and forth (but spent >6 months in CA in 2023)