Total income (fed) exceeds MA income and non-MA income by more than 10%. a) how can that be b) what's the answer?

[linear]

If the total income reported on your federal return is 10% or more greater than the total income reported at the state level, MA asks for an explanation. You just need to enter that explanation, but will have to examine your income items to determine what it might be.

The difference could be due to a spouse's income (included on federal but not on state), or it could be due to income taxable at the federal level but not taxable at the state level.

Here are some possibilities for items not taxed by the state of MA:

http://www.mass.gov/dor/individuals/filing-and-payment-information/guide-to-personal-income-tax/mass...

[NHSeventh]

Also have this question and am unsure how to proceed. Married/Filing separately in mass on both state and federal returns. Easy numbers for example: My income (100k) wife income (100k). The statement in Turbotax reads "Since your total income from your federal return of 200k exceeds you MA and non-MA income on your MA return of 100k by more than 10%, the state requires an explanation of the difference". The difference is because they are (incorrectly?) adding both incomes together. Not sure how to answer this because it seems so obvious, but I can't find any info on this online other than this thread.