I live in California, my wife lives in NYC, can we file joint state tax return?

[Wenqian]

We plan to file jointly for federal. But not sure how to do with state income tax. Any suggestion?

[JotikaT2 · Accepted solution]

It depends.

Filing as Married Filing Jointly usually provides the greatest tax benefits of the higher standard deduction and lower tax rates. 

Generally, in California you need to file using the same filing status as you use for federal purposes. 

However there is an exception if your nonresident spouse does not have any California source income.  If this the case for you, you would be able to file as Married Filing Separately for California should you choose.

For New York,  you will need to file as Married Filing Separately.  The resident state spouse will file Form IT-203 and the nonresident spouse will file Form IT-203. 

See the following link for instructions on how to prepare the Married Filing Separate returns for the states.

How to File MFJ for Federal but separately for state

[Wenqian]

thanks so much! Really helpful!