Montana State Tax Return

[crbloemeke]

Hello! 

I have a question about filing my state taxes in Montana. TurboTax is recommending that I file "Married Filing Combined-Separate" for the best return. But when choosing this option it is asking me to break down the following items between my husband and I.

• 2018 MT Itemized Deductions
• 2018 MT Adjusted Gross Income
• 2018 Federal Income Tax Return
• 2018 Federal Taxes Paid
• 2018 Federal Income Tax Deducted
• 2018 Federal Income Tax Liability

Last year for MT Taxes we filed jointly so everything is combined in a single column on my taxes. Is it acceptable to just split these amounts equally between my husband and I? If not, does anybody have a good recommendation on how to come up with these values?

[DaveF1006]

Montana is not a community property state so you cannot split 50/50 for things like adjusted gross income, federal taxes paid, federal income tax deducted and federal income tax liability. You would need to prepare 2018 mock returns as Married filing Separately to get the true values for your husband and yourself to accurately report these 2018 values in your return for this year.  Here is what i suggest for you to do:

1. Contact support  contact a specialist that can provide a download for a 2018 Turbo Tax Desktop software. If you paid for your 2018 return with Turbo Tax, this download will be provided free of charge.  Also I assume maybe you have used Turbo Tax online but you may have already have the 2018 software installed. 
2. Once you have the software, prepare a Married filing Separate return for yourself, which includes only your income and prepare one for him. You do have the ability to prepare multiple returns within the software. 
3. You would need to enter information in the federal return so that it will flow into the Montana state return when you do this.
4. Once the mock returns are complete, you have the ability to look at your Montana State Forms and answer the questions you outlined above.