Filed federal taxes jointly but lived in separate states and now Louisiana is asking for additional payment

[amgarci7]

My husband and I were living separately in 2017. He was in Louisiana and I was in Florida. We filed our federal income taxes jointly, but he filed separately with Louisiana. We have now (4 years later) received a letter from the state of Louisiana saying we owe several thousands of dollars because our income was significantly higher than what my husband reported. 

My income was all earned in Florida, so I assumed Louisiana had no right to tax any of it. Now I am seeing I should have been more careful and perhaps filed our federal taxes separately to avoid the hassle. 

What do you suggest we do? Do we need to pay LA or is there another option like amending our federal taxes to file separately? 

[tagteam]

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@amgarci7 wrote:

What do you suggest we do? Do we need to pay LA or is there another option like amending our federal taxes to file separately? 

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You might want to consult with a local Louisiana tax professional at this point.

An individual is required to use the same filing status as the individual used on his or her federal
income tax return. If married persons filed a federal income tax return using the “married filing
jointly” filing status, the Louisiana income tax return must use the same filing status.

https://revenue.louisiana.gov/LawsPolicies/RR%2020-001%20Tax%20Effect%20of%20Community%20Property%20...

Note the ruling:

Louisiana taxes all of the income of a resident and the Louisiana sourced income of a nonresident.
For married persons, where one spouse is a Louisiana resident and the other spouse is a resident
of another community property state, Louisiana will tax all of the income of the resident spouse
and the Louisiana sourced income of the nonresident spouse. The Louisiana resident’s income
will include one half of all community property income earned everywhere. The nonresident’s
Louisiana sourced income will include one half of the community property income earned in
Louisiana by the resident spouse.

[Hal_Al]

Q.  What do you suggest we do?

A. File an amended LA return, changing the filing status to Married Filing Jointly, but showing the FL income as  not LA sourced income.  FL is not a community property state. 

But, it further depends on the circumstance of you living in separate states.  That is, were you a genuine FL resident, or was it just some temporarily situation and you shoulda been considered a LA resident for 2017.

Paying a LA tax professional for advice and/or tp prepare the amended return may be advisable.  

You can not use TurboTax to prepare an amended 2017 state return, unless you have the 2017 software downloaded on your computer.

[tagteam]

I believe @Hal_Al raised an excellent point and it should be your threshold question:

Were you a Florida resident for all of the 2017 tax year?

Did you change your residency from Louisiana to Florida? 

If you were still a Louisiana resident for 2017, then that would be a major issue and the state assessment is likely correct. Consult with a local tax professional.