I'm preparing my parent's tax return. My father passed away last April and the state of Pennsylvania requires me to file separate returns for my parents even though I will file a joint federal return. To save time, I'd like to use the modify the master joint return file by renaming it and eliminating my father from the file. How do I change the return status to single or how can I remove one parent's personal data?
You can change the filing status to "Married Filing Separately" pretty easily and then just create the state return from that.
Thanks - this worked for the primary person on the joint return, but not the secondary. I could not find a way to switch the primary and secondary taxpayers without fully re-keying the data for the secondary taxpayer. At least it save 50% of the extra work!
You may just have to re-key that information.
You can switch the primary and secondary taxpayers and then go through the return and switch all of the income so that it connects to the correct spouse. But it may be easier to just do it all over.