Married filing separately in Massachusetts

[writeraeria]

I am in the middle of a really difficult divorce and my soon-to-be-ex-husband is refusing to provide me with any information. We have been living separately since November 2019. I was waiting to file taxes and asked him several times to provide me with his W-2s so I could file. Since he has refused, I'm filing married filing separately. Massachusetts is asking for what his income is. I don't know and I can't find it. If I had that information, I wouldn't be filing separately in the first place! How do I get around this so I can file my Massachusetts taxes timely?

[SusanY1]

I'm sorry that you're going through a tough situation.   If your spouse does not agree to file a joint tax return, you cannot file one jointly with your spouse.   

I am not sure in what context the Masschusetts return is asking for your spouse's information as I am not seeing that prompt when I try to create a MFS return in the MA software.   Can you provide us with  more information about where in the program the question is being asked so that we can provide better guidance? 

[TomD8]

Double-check that you selected Married Filing Separately as the filing status on your state return.  When filing separately, you only have to supply your spouse's name and SSN, not his income.

[writeraeria]

Yes I know i cannot file jointly. I never said I was filing jointly. I literally can't file jointly even if I had his consent because I do not have his income information.

When I attempted to submit the Massachusetts state income tax, it popped up that Massachusetts needs my spouse's income information because they want to make sure everything matches even when you file married filing separately. Turbo Tax isn't letting me submit unless I enter a value in for my spouse's federal income.

[writeraeria]

And yes, I have triple checked that I am filing married filing separately. Again, this is for Massachusetts state taxes not federal that i am having this issue.

[TomD8]

Unfortunately I don't have the Massachusetts software on my computer, so I can't duplicate your situation.

Another user had this suggestion, that might be worth a try:  

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/how-to-change-state-filing-status/00/671771

Also, make sure you didn't enter anything on your federal return that belonged to your husband, such as a W-2 or 1099.  The only information about him that should be on your return is his name and SSN.  It seems like something is making the program think you are filing a joint state return.

[writeraeria]

The link isn't at all relevant to my situation. I don't know how many times I have to say I verified that I'm filing as Married Filing Separately. The Turbo Tax message even says "Massachusetts wants this information even if you're filing as married filing separately".