I move to CA in November while my spouse was CA resident whole year, can i file part-resident CA tax return?

[lukeyang]

I was a GA resident until the end of October, then I moved to CA on 11/01/2022. My wife was a CA resident the whole 2022. I have a 10-month W-2 in GA while a 1.5-month W-2 in CA. My wife has a 12-month W-2 in CA. We filed state tax return using MFJ. In terms of CA tax return, should we file Full-year resident or part-year resident? Thank you for helping.

[ErnieS0]

File a full-year California resident return if you filed a joint federal return.

If you file a joint return for federal purposes, you may file separately for California if either spouse was one of the following:

• An active member of the United States armed forces or any auxiliary military branch during the year
• A nonresident for the entire year and had no income from California sources during the year

A full-year resident return will include all your Georgia income. However, you can claim a credit on your CA return for any tax paid to GA.

See Married/RDP filing jointly.

[TomD8]

In the Personal Info section of TT under your name, enter CA as your State of Residence, but indicate that you lived in another state - GA.  This will prompt the program to generate the correct tax forms for both states.  

CA requires filing Form 540NR if either spouse was a non-resident or part-year resident of CA in 2022.

You may file your GA return as MFJ or MFS, your choice.  If you had no CA-source income during your time as a GA resident, then the GA portion of your income is not taxable by CA.

As @ErnieS0 indicated, you do not meet CA's criteria for filing MFS, so your CA return filing status must be MFJ.

[lukeyang]

Thank you, @TomD8 @ErnieS0 . Based on your valuable information, I think I should be able to file part-year resident CA tax return jointly with my wife.

May I ask one more question? Since I was a GA resident for 10 months in 2022 and my wife was not a GA resident full year. My wife has no GA income. What kind of tax return should I file for my GA tax return? Can we file GA part-year resident joint file? Or I should file a GA part-year resident separate file along with a "Mock" federal MFS?

Thank you so much, very appreciate.

[MaryK4]

You can file joint or separate- but if you file joint, you will get to use her exemption which will benefit you. 

@lukeyang 

A married part-year resident or nonresident with income earned in Georgia whose spouse is a
nonresident with no Georgia source income may file either a separate return claiming only their own personal exemption and dependent exemptions and deductions or a joint return claiming total allowable deductions.