WV Tax

[Cowtipper]

My wife lives in WV and I live in FL.  I put that in Turbo tax federal at the start and was filing married jointly.  I started the WV return and it said to go ahead and file your federal return and then go back and file a new return for the WV resident and do married filing separately.  Does that mean I have to change all the info on the federal and remove all the info I already put on the first one as married filing jointly? If so why did turbo tax not tell me from the start so I would not have to go back and change a lot of entries?  Thanks

[ThomasM125]

You would not have to delete the information that was assigned to one spouse or the other. For instance, when you enter your W-2 form, you indicate that it is for you or your spouse, so you could leave your W-2 in the federal program and it won't show up on the WV return since it will be for your spouse.

The only problem might be that you may have to change the tax filer listed on the federal return. If you are the filer and list your spouse as such, then when you do the state return it will treat you as the tax filer.

[Cowtipper]

Still not clear.  It says to go ahead and file your federal return now, which I have as married jointly, and then go back and start a new return for the WV resident and do it as filing separately.  Is that going to cause the federal return to have two filings or just not sent the separately form to federal? Thanks

[DawnC]

 It looks like you are using the desktop software, so you have the right version to do what you are trying to do.    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).

Tip: If you already started your return in TurboTax Online, we recommend that you transfer your tax file to the CD/Download version. You will save time by entering less information.  Step one is to ensure your state allows taxpayers to use different filing statuses for the federal an state returns, which you can do in WV.   FL is a no-income-tax state, so you can file MFJ federally and then your wife can file the MFS state return for WV.   

If one spouse was a resident of West Virginia for the entire year, and the other spouse was a nonresident for the entire year, and they filed a joint federal return, they may choose to file jointly as residents of West Virginia. The total income earned by each spouse for the entire year, regardless of where earned, must be reported on the joint return as taxable to West Virginia.  Since you do not want to file the MFJ return for the state of WV, use this link which outlines the detailed steps for filing a separate state return along with a joint federal return.   

You will need to create mock returns and although this can be tedious, it is often the best way to ensure you accurately minimize state tax situations with two different state incomes.  Read through the instructions before getting started.