How to file married jointly, when a spouse interned at Minnesota for 6 months, and then returned to Texas to work at another position?

[nmlam00]

Hi all, 

My wife interned in Minnesota for 6 months, and then returned to Texas continue working for a different company. Do I need to file 2 tax returns? If so, how would I file since Minnesota has state tax but Texas doesn't?

[ThomasM125]

You would file one federal tax return and a part-year resident return for your spouse for the time she was in Minnesota. For the state return, you can file it married-joint or married-separate, whichever way turns out best. If you file it married-separate, you will have to prepare a separate federal return entering her tax information only to populate the married-separate Minnesota return. For that one, you don't submit the federal return, just the Minnesota one.