To date married couple has always filed MFJ. Wife has used TT CD to file each year in the course of the marriage (over 5 years).
During 2023 the husband established an LLC for an activity that the wife considers a hobby and not a viable business. The hobby/business activity resulted in expenses but zero income. Wife will not sign any tax return for which she feels she cannot defend or is otherwise "shady". This is why we decided to change to MFS for our 2023 return(s).
We live in a community property state, a state for which there is no State Income Taxation.
We own a house and pay property taxes and mortgage interest.
There are no children, no educational deductions/credits, no rental income, and no contributions to any retirement accounts (IRAs, Roths, 401k etc).
Husband has W-2 income and Social Security Income. He sold stock he has in a privately held company that was established post-marriage several years ago using pre-marriage non-cash assets. He also has what might be called Pass-through income ($0) and expenses (several thousands) from his LLC. He has under $50 in Div/Int income from banks.
Wife has a very small amount on W-2. She has 1099-R distributions from retirement accounts that she fully funded pre-marriage, and has had 20% withheld in Fed taxes on the distributions. She also has tens of thousands in LT Cap Gains from a partnership that she had ownership of pre-marriage. She has under $50 in Div/Int income from banks.
Originally I thought that if we did MFS husband would "take" his items on his MFS return and wife would "take" hers on her own MFS return, with no splitting of W-2 income, 1099-R income, LLC pass-through income/losses, and federal withholdings.
As I read through information on filing MFS while living in a community property state, it's clear that doing so is a real headache.
What are the options when one spouse refuses to sign a joint tax return for the couple?
