Question

PA resident, DE filing status in Turbotax cannot be changed

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 19, 2021
1 reply
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Hello,

My husband and I are living in PA. He works in DE and I work in PA. We do married filing jointly for federal tax. And we need to file tax for both PA and DE. I think that if we do married filing separately for state tax we can get the largest refund in our special case. When I started PA filing, it said if our filing status is different from federal, we can make a change. But for DE tax, it doesn't have this choice. It coerced to file our return as married filing jointly using federal status. Is that something Turbotax would fix?

Thanks

S

SundayInSalem

TurboTax does not allow you to create a separate state return if you file a joint federal return. The suggested solution is to create a “mock” separate return for Delaware for your husband.

How do I prepare a joint federal return and separate state returns?

Your husband should file a separate Delaware return. If you file jointly, Delaware will base your tax rate on your joint income. The tax will be the Delaware percentage of joint income.

Delaware says, "Generally, separate returns will be advantageous if both spouses have a Delaware adjusted gross income in excess of $9,400 or if only one spouse worked in Delaware."

See page 10 of Form 200-02 NR instructions