Spouse lives in a different states; income earned in each state, one being taxable and the other non taxable

[HL227]

I lived and earned income in Texas all of 2020 and my husband lived and earned income in PA all of 2020. We are filing as married filing jointly for the federal return. I am using the online turbotax version and when I go to the state tax it does not allow me to specify that just my husband was a resident of PA. It only gives me the option to say that we are nonresidents or full time residents (does not allow the option to specify that just my spouse was a full time resident of PA). What is the best way to file the state taxes for my tax situation

[DMarkM1]

PA does allow you to file as married filing separately even though you file a federal joint return. 

You will need to either have two online accounts one with with your joint return and one with your spouse filing separately or use a CD/Download version.  You can use TurboTax Online to file separate state returns, but we recommend you use the CD/Download software version to do this because you'll only need to pay for one TurboTax product (you can file up to five returns). 

Since TX does not have a state income tax you do have to worry about that return.  

You will create a mock federal return for your husband filing separately to allow a PA return to be created.  The federal mock return will not be filed and the PA return will need to mailed.  

Here is a link with more details on the process.

[HL227]

I am confused by the two online account option you mentioned. Can I just efile the joint federal return without filing the PA state taxes from my account and then use his account to efile the PA state taxes he owes?

Alternatively, If we efile the joint federal return from his turbotax account and then proceed to efile his state taxes under married filing separately  from that same account, will that work? I think the issue with using my turbotax account to file the federal return is that I cannot complete a PA state return correctly since there doesn't seem to be an option where I can specify that he was the only resident and not myself. 

Thank you for your input!

[ErnieS0]

Yes. You can file a joint federal income tax return without filing Pennsylvania and use the other online account to prepare a PA return.

You will be paying twice to file.

You can file for free directly with the PA Department of Revenue using myPATH.

See PA e-file.