WA - CA MFJ federal return and MFS CA state return case

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 4, 2019
11 replies
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My wife and I are filing a joint federal return but we are doing separate state returns (got married in October 2017) and my wife then moved from CA to WA.

Regarding the community property rules, my wife worked in CA for 9 months, then she stopped working, we got married and then she moved to WA for the last 1.5 months of the year. Does the non-resident exception apply here since she was not domiciled in WA while she was working. Am I (being the CA non-resident) required to report California income? In other words, when preparing the separate mock federal return, we should only count in her salary or half of the total income?

Also when I paper-file the state MFS return, Turbotax asks me (in the instructions) to attach a copy of my federal return. Which federal return should I attached with the MFS state return, the MFJ federal return (that I actually filed) or the associated mock MFS federal return (that I did not file)?

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Best answer by TerriL

Hi: I think I may be able to help. I'm assuming your wife had no income in WA in 2017---(which would only come into play on your Federal return because WA has no state income tax!) Community property rules differ from state to state (and can be tricky---depending on what type of income and the itemizing vs. standard deduction rules) but none of this would seem to come into play in 2017 for you. As I understand, you weren't married until October and income prior to that is not community income.

So here's what I would do. Complete your Federal return as MFJ, with your combined incomes for 2017. Now go back into TurboTax and complete a "mock" MFS return for your wife and her CA income---which then will walk you through the CA return. (I hope you have the CD/Desktop version---I'm not a fan of the online version!) You didn't say, but I'm assuming you live in WA---which means you don't need to file a state return.

When you send in your wife's CA return, you attach your MFJ return to it because that is the actual return you are filing with the IRS.

Hope that helps in some small way. Good luck!

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TerriLAnswer

Level 2

Hi: I think I may be able to help. I'm assuming your wife had no income in WA in 2017---(which would only come into play on your Federal return because WA has no state income tax!) Community property rules differ from state to state (and can be tricky---depending on what type of income and the itemizing vs. standard deduction rules) but none of this would seem to come into play in 2017 for you. As I understand, you weren't married until October and income prior to that is not community income.

So here's what I would do. Complete your Federal return as MFJ, with your combined incomes for 2017. Now go back into TurboTax and complete a "mock" MFS return for your wife and her CA income---which then will walk you through the CA return. (I hope you have the CD/Desktop version---I'm not a fan of the online version!) You didn't say, but I'm assuming you live in WA---which means you don't need to file a state return.

When you send in your wife's CA return, you attach your MFJ return to it because that is the actual return you are filing with the IRS.

Hope that helps in some small way. Good luck!