Filing Taxes with Different State Incomes: Joint Federal and Separate State Returns

[phyprashant]

Greetings,
For the tax year 2020, both my spouse and I earned income in different states—I worked in New Mexico, and my wife worked in Nebraska—and we wish to file a joint federal return (Married Filing Jointly, MFJ). However, when preparing the state tax returns, I noticed that my name appears first and my wife's name second in Nebraska state returns, with no option to alter this order or update my wife's address. Is it possible to file jointly for federal taxes and separately for state taxes (Married Filing Separately, MFS) to ensure the names are listed in the correct order?
Thanks
With best regards

[DianeW777]

It depends on the rules of the state.  Since you put your name first in the federal return it will move that way to the state returns. You may have to prepare the Nebraska (NE) return by paper.

• Your NE filing status must be the same as your federal filing status. An exception to this rule is if you are married filing jointly and one of you is a Nebraska resident and the other spouse is a part year or nonresident.

It's not clear if you are each a resident in the state where you work. Here is a link to the NE Individual Income Tax FAQs.