You will almost always pay less federal income tax if you are married and file a joint federal tax return.
For Arizona, you can file separate or joint but you may not file a joint income tax return on Form 140 if any of the following apply:
- Your spouse is a nonresident alien (citizen of and living in another country).
- Your spouse is a resident of another state.
- Your spouse is a part-year Arizona resident.
If you want to file a joint Arizona return, you have to use Form 140NR. Because Washington is also a community property state, Total community property will include wages earned by both of you, whether earned in Arizona or Washington. For additional information, see ARIZONA INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX RULING ITR 14-1.
The best way to determine whether or not you should file a joint or separate Arizona returns is to calculate your tax both ways. The easiest way to do that is to use TurboTax Desktop software. You can create as many tax returns as you like using the desktop software. You can complete a joint federal return and a joint Arizona return, then create copies of the return by saving it with different names. You can then use those returns to create Arizona separate returns, one for each of you.
For information, and to order TurboTax Desktop see: TurboTax® Desktop
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