California is a community property state. When filing a separate return, each spouse/RDP reports the following:
- One-half of the community income
- All of their own separate income
If you have already completed a community property income worksheet and are making additional adjustments on your Separate California return, you can enter Subtractions and Additions for different types of income, as positive dollar amounts, on the California interview screen, "Here's the income that California handles differently".
To find the interview for Federal Community Property Income, Form 8958, try the steps in this help article:
First, use your community property state rules to determine what adjustments you expect to enter in TurboTax. Often one return has an addition to income and withholding, while the other will have a reduction (subtraction) to income and withholding.
- Sign in to TurboTax and open or continue your return
- Search (using the magnifying glass at the upper right of your screen) for 8958 and select the Jump to link.
- On the Community Property Income screen, select Yes and follow the instructions to enter any income adjustments.
After you've told us your income adjustments, you'll have to fill out the community property worksheet. The worksheet shows how the income on this tax return compares with the other taxpayer's return.
Your community property worksheet will appear right after you complete your income adjustments.
If you can't find the worksheet:
- Sign in to TurboTax and open or continue your return.
- Search for community property worksheet and select the Jump to link.
If the "jump to" step doesn't work, you can access the Form 8958 in Forms mode, To access Form 8958, if you are using the Deluxe version of TurboTax Desktop, click Forms on the black bar at the top.
Click "Open Form"
Type in "8958"
Click "Open Form"
You can make the entries directly on the form. Be sure not to override any entries that are already populated, as this could lead to errors.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) created Form 8958 to allow couples in community property states to correctly allocate income to each spouse that may not match what is reported to the IRS. See this TurboTax tips article for more information on Form 8958 and community property. The rules for the state returns may differ.
If you are filing a joint return, you don't need to do a community property split.
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