California non-residents file separately

[MichaelB2024]

My spouse and I are both California non-residents (all of 2023), but my spouse worked from CA enough days to trigger CA taxes withheld. It's my understanding we need to file a 540NR with California state. However, because I had no income attributable to CA, we don't need to file jointly; she can file separately. It's the same situation described in this 2019 forum post.

However, when I follow the instructions in that post and check the forms boxes to file separately instead of jointly, Turbotax selects me instead of my spouse. Our federal tax return (this year and all years previously) have me listed first. How can I cause Turbotax to file a 540NR for my spouse only and not me?

Bizarrely, the state "Schedule W-2 (1)" form is correctly populated with my spouse's information in the 1st column, but it has my name at the top of that page. And the other forms are a mix of both our information, generally me as "Yourself" and my spouse as "Spouse/RDP". It's a total mess.

[MonikaK1]

TurboTax identifies you as the taxpayer if you list your name first on the return and it is your account. Also, California is a community property state, and wages are considered community income; California doesn't generally allow couples to file separately if the Federal return is filed jointly. You would still be taxed only on the California-sourced income as nonresidents.

See this help article for more information. Each state has its own rules regarding this topic. For example, Arizona allows couples to file separately even if they filed a joint federal return, whereas Colorado does not. California doesn't allow it either, with the exception of active-duty military and certain nonresidents. Before proceeding further, make sure this is allowed by your state's tax laws.