Married living in separate state

[wetz]

Married living in separate state tax filing - CA and PA

Hi all,

Just got married last year. I am a resident of PA and my wife is resident of CA until now and we just visit each other. All my income last year will be from PA, while my wife will be from CA.

Can we file jointly for the federal and separately for state without much complications ? I believe it is possible to do file separately in PA with no problem, but am not sure with CA being a community property state. I don't like to be double taxed and hate to see my PA income taxed at CA rates.

If we can file MFJ in federal and MFS in state, can TurboTax or TaxCut software handle this ? In the federal, would it matter which address we use (CA or PA) ?

Any insights would greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[vatabconsulting]

----------

 

[kirby]

Hi wetz
A couple things. To determine residence for Calif state tax purposes California has more tests than simply where you live so you need to look into that.
Now the bizarre part. Lets say you are absolutely (based on above) a nonresident for california state tax. But you are married to a Calif resident. So under Cali community property law when you file separate returns :
Your wife files a calif 540 return where she includes half of her income and half of yours.
You file a calif 540 nr (nonresident) return where you include none of your income and half of hers.