Can I file for CA state single and married filing jointly for federal?

[stephan_theone]

  I want to do this because my wife lives in Mexicoand not in the USA, and does not have an ITIN or SSN we have applied but will she  not have one until June. I will lose 400 from the state doing it this way but I could really use the state tax money now

[Leonard · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can file single in California even if you file married filing jointly on your federal tax return.

 If you file a joint tax return for federal purposes, you may file separately for California if either spouse was:

• An active member of the United States armed forces or any auxiliary military branch during 2018.
• A nonresident for the entire year and had no income from California sources during 2018.

The link below is to the California Franchise Tax Board and contains additional information you may find useful.

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/Filing-status-information.shtml

[yiz]

California return requires me to attach a federal return. If I file jointly in federal return and file seperately in ca return, shall I attach the real federal return (file jointly, sent to IRS) or the mock federal return (file separately)? Thank you!

[ErnieS0]

Attach the real federal return @yiz because that is what you filed. California is a community property state, so your state return, in most cases, should be half the amounts on federal.

[pb2024]

I have this same situation -- filing MFJ for Federal, but only 1 spouse has any CA sourced income (as a non-resident for CA. Both spouses are NY residents).

So, I create a dummy Federal return with an MFS filing status, segregating out all income and deductions, for the spouse with the CA income. This then will create a CA non-resident return with MFS status for that spouse.

Now, when it comes to file, I have to paper file. As you have noted, I need to attach the "real" MFJ Federal return. However, then none of the numbers in the MFJ Federal return will match the Federal starting point in the CA MFS return -- CA requires you to start with the Federal return and show those numbers in the CA return.

So, is the solution to send in both the real MFJ Federal return and the dummy MFS Federal return, maybe with a cover letter explaining what is being done?

Thanks for the help in clarifying how this should work.

[ThomasM125]

Yes, you should submit the dummy federal return you used to complete the state return and also the original federal return. Mark them to make it easier for the person processing the return to understand what you are doing. @pb2024