State tax filing

To properly file the New York tax return, you will need to either elect to treat the non-resident spouse as a resident or file a separate tax return for the resident spouse, including only the income that belongs to that spouse.  

Filing a separate return in New York is generally the preferred method. You can see more about what the state of New York says about this by clicking on this link: New York filing status.

The District of Columbia makes it easy for you to handle your nonresident spouse income with their "Married Filing Separately on the Same Return" option. New York does not have a similar status.  Therefore, you have to take some extra steps to file a Married Filing Separate tax return for the state of New York only.  

Here are the steps for filing a separate NY return for your spouse:

The TurboTax CD/Download product (found HERE) is the preferred product to file your federal return jointly, and your state return separately.     

Here is how to do this in TurboTax CD/Download:

1. Prepare your joint federal return in TurboTax as you normally would. 
2. Prepare a mock Married Filing Separately (MFS) federal return for each spouse who will file separately in any state.  You will not file these federal returns, but they will be used to create the state returns.
3. For the separate return, include only the income and deductions that apply to that state. 
4. File your joint federal return as prepared in the joint file.
5. If filing jointly in one state, transmit this return with your federal file.  Otherwise, transmit only your federal file from the original MFJ return.
6. Using the mock MFS file that you have now created, file each state return separately.  You may have to print and mail state returns when filing separately from your federal return. 

You can transfer the data that you have already entered into TurboTax online to the desktop product by following the steps found here:  Transferring from TurboTax online to desktop.

If you prefer to continue to use online TurboTax, you follow the same instructions. However, instead of creating three files on your computer, you will create three TurboTax accounts, each with a unique user name and password.