Moved for just 5 months: trouble filing as resident and non-resident

[derynjoy]

I lived in Massachusetts from January - February 2021, and moved to Rhode Island when I got married in March. We lived there until the end of July, when we moved back to Massachusetts from August until the end of the year. (This means I spent 5 months in RI and 7 in MA during 2021, and mistakenly thought I'd skip the tax headache because MA was my primary residence.) I had the same job the whole year, which was based in MA.

Looking at other threads, I'm seeing I may have to file

• as non-resident of MA (5 months)
• as resident of MA (7 months)
• as RI resident (5 months)
• and possibly also with MA as full-time worker / telecommuter (or is that included in my R/NonR filing)?

...and figure out how to file jointly with my spouse 😩 If I'm correct, how many returns is this?? Should I ditch the self-filing and just get someone more experienced to deal with it for me?

[JohnB5677]

Let's take this step by step.

• Your Federal return will not be affected. So Married Filing Jointly will be fine.
• You worked in Massachusetts the entire time. So the entire amount will be taxed in Massachusetts.
• You will file both Rhode Island and Massachusetts as Part-Year residents
• You will allocate 5/12ths of your Massachusetts income to Rhode Island.
• I suggest you do Massachusetts first so you can calculate the Rhode  Island tax credit.

[linear · Accepted solution]

Did you and your spouse have the same residency periods in MA and RI? If not, you won't be able to file joint state returns.

See this help article for more info on how to file your state returns:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/how-do-i-prepare-a-joint-federal-return-and-se...