Should I file state jointly or separately?

[kaylenquanbeck]

I recently got married and am filing jointly for federal. My spouse is a legal resident of North Dakota and I live with him there as of October 2019. I still have my drivers license in and go to school in Minnesota. I also work in North Dakota but filled out a Minnesota reciprocity form to have my income taxed out of Minnesota. Is there any way to file jointly for state?

[DavidS127]

North Dakota requires the same married filing jointly filing status as used on the federal return.  The ND instructions are that married couples who file a joint federal return and have different states of residence must file a joint North Dakota return and complete Schedule ND-1R.

But, because you moved from MN to ND in October, you may be "domiciled" in ND now.  If you consider ND to now be your home, you qualify as a ND resident as of the end of the year.

If you had MN income in 2019 prior to the time you moved to ND, you will need to file as a MN part-year resident to allocate income between the MN and ND tax returns.  MN also requires you use the same married filing jointly status used on the federal tax return.