If I live abroad and need to file state taxes (rental income), how is this possible with TurboTax as I'm a nonresident and it's forcing me to select a State of Residence?

[GoseongGuy]

I'm a nonresident, but I'm not a resident of any other US state. There is no option for Foreign state or possession in the State of Residence list, but it's forcing me to select a US state or specific possession. I'm in Korea, I'm not in any of those. How is it possible to use TurboTax then?

[ToddL99]

Please clarify - are you a legal resident of South Korea? Are you licensed to drive and registered to vote in any U.S. state?

In the Personal Info interview, you can choose a "Foreign or U.S. Possession" as your "state of Residence in TurboTax, and a foreign mailing address.

Also in the Personal Info interview, you can tell the program you made money in another state in order to trigger a state return requirement.

See the sample screenshots, below for aid in navigation:

[GoseongGuy]

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I had already chosen both of those in the Personal Info section - Foreign or US Possession, and I also specified that I made money in another state, Ohio.

As stated, this is all fine until I get to the State taxes part. In the beginning of the State taxes part, it correctly prefills in the "nonresident" bubble. But then it makes me choose from a list the state that I was a resident in, and Ohio is not among them of course since it knows I am a nonresident of Ohio. But there is no Foreign or US Possession for me to choose in this area of the State taxes. 

It looks like TurboTax does not handle State taxes for Americans living abroad with income to report from a US state. I can use TurboTax for Federal only.

And I believe it's correct to say I am a legal resident of S. Korea. I am married to a Korean with an F6 visa. And yes I still have a valid Ohio driver's license. I'm also registered to vote in Ohio (I voted absentee in the recent election).

Thanks,
Nate

[Carl]

I still have a valid Ohio driver's license. I'm also registered to vote in Ohio

There's a way to handle this, but I honestly can't tell you what it is. Perhaps the below will help you, or assist someone in helping you to get on track.

Basically, as a U.S. Citizen, you "must" have a "tax home" state or U.S. Territory. Period. I get the impression  that for you, that state would be Ohio.

So on your federal return, your home state (for tax purposes) is Ohio.

Then it's when you get to the Ohio state tax return (you "resident" return for that state) that you deal with (somehow) your physical "residency" status for state tax purposes.

[GoseongGuy]

Thanks @Carl ,

I see, I'm starting to think the personal info/federal section is fine with specifying Foreign or US Possession and making money in Ohio, but in the state return section, maybe I would have to select that I'm a "resident" of Ohio for the whole year, even though I was not in the country for a single day of the last 2 years. Pretty wonky but I guess that's the concept of "tax home" like you say.

I think I'm going to file state taxes via the local government website and not go the TurboTax route on this. However if anyone knows the missing puzzle piece to this TurboTax solution, it would be interesting to know with more certainty if this is correct or what they expect.

Thanks
Nate

[Carl]

I myself never have to deal with state taxes. But having done my time overseas while in the military, I still retained my "home state" for tax purposes. Fuzzy recollections from those days, I seem to recall that for some of those that had home states that taxed personal income, your income was excluded from state taxation if two conditions were met.

1) You earned the money while physically working for that money outside of that state.

2) You were not physically in that state for more than "X" number of days during the tax year.