Me and my wife were Illinois resident in 2017. I work in Illinois and my wife works in Wisconsin. I will file "Married filed jointly" for federal. Two states returns?

[jaehochoi2003]

Both me and my wife earned wages as income, no other income. We both lived together in Illinois in entire year of 2017. But I worked in Illinois, whereas my wife worked in Wisconsin. I am planning to file "married filed jointly" for federal. For the state return, should I file Illinois state return and my wife file Wisconsin state return separately? Please advise.

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

It depends, but you should only have to file one state:  Illinois.  The reason is that Illinois and Wisconsin are reciprocal states:  they agree that you only pay state tax where you live (IL) and not where you work (for her, WI).  If only Illinois taxes were withheld, it will not be necessary to file a Wisconsin state return of any kind.

However, if Wisconsin tax withholdings were mistakenly withheld, you may file a Wisconsin return with a zero income using the Wisconsin Salary Allocation screen in the screenshot below.  This way, all Wisconsin tax will be refunded.  In addition, you may file Wisconsin Form W-220 (click on link) so that her Wisconsin employer withholds IL taxes only.  Please see this FAQ for more information on reciprocal states https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/4776822

Please note the following screenshot to zero out your Wisconsin income if necessary to do so: