topic IL & NJ filing in State tax filing

IL & NJ filing

Sneha — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 01:01:32 GMT

I live and earn income in NJ, and my husband lives in Illinois but has no income. When I tried to file my return, it showed that I owe IL tax. How do I fix this, because we didn't earn any income in IL, so why are they saying that we owe taxes? I don't know if it's because IL thinks I am a full-time resident in IL, but I'm not. If it is, how do I fix this?

Re: IL & NJ filing

DavidD66 — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 01:23:25 GMT

I am assuming the filing status for your federal tax return is Married Filing Joint. Since you husband does not have any income I don't see any reason not to file your New Jersey tax return as Married Filing Joint. For Illinois, you should be filing separately. If you are filing a joint Illinois return (which you shouldn't) you are going to owe Illinois income tax since your husband is an Illinois resident.

Re: IL & NJ filing

Sneha — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 01:31:58 GMT

I tried to file MFS for Illinois, but I don't see an option for that. I think Illinois is one of the states that requires you to file the same as the filing status as federal, which in our case MFJ, correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: IL & NJ filing

DavidD66 — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 02:22:33 GMT

You are partially correct. In general, Illinois requires you to use the same filing status as on your federal return. However, according to the 2025 Form IL-1040 Instructions: If you file a joint federal return and one spouse is a full-year Illinois resident while the other is a part-year resident or a nonresident, file “married filing separately.”

If you are using TurboTax Online, you should switch to TurboTax Desktop. You will need to prepare three separate returns: one Married Filing Joint return and two mock Married Filing Separately federal returns - one for each separate Illinois state return. You will be able to e-file the joint return, along with your New Jersey state return, but you will need to mail your Illinois returns.

The reason you need to switch to TurboTax Desktop is so you can create the joint return, and then make two copies of that return (by "saving as" and using a different file name). You can create as many tax returns in TurboTax Desktop as you want. After creating a joint federal return and making a copy for mock MFS return, you will delete all of your spouse's information, change the filing status to MFS, and if you already prepared it, deleting the New Jersey return. You can do the same thing for the other spouse.

To switch from TurboTax Online to TurobTax Desktop see the following article: How do I switch from TurboTax Online to TurboTax Desktop?

Re: IL & NJ filing

Sneha — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 04:06:55 GMT

Is it okay if we dont file IL at all? There's technically no income in IL, so there shouldn't be any reason to file IL, right?

Re: IL & NJ filing

AnnetteB6 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:32:10 GMT

Since you stated that your spouse has no income then, as long as you had no income from Illinois sources you are probably ok not filing the Illinois Married Filing Separate return.

Take a look at the Illinois filing requirements using the link below to be certain that you do not need to file the Illinois return:

Who must file an Illinois tax return?

@Sneha

Re: IL & NJ filing

Sneha — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 22:41:26 GMT

I already paid for IL return, but is there a way to delete it from TurboTax Desktop. I tried to delete it, but I dont see an option. Even if I can't get the $40 back, thats okay.

Re: IL & NJ filing

AmyC — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:25:26 GMT

Once you pay for the return, it is there. You are not required to use it. Simply mark that you will mail the return. This simply tells the program not to file it electronically. The program won't communicate with IL at all.