Joint married filing. We live in NJ, he works in NJ and I work in NY. If we file separate but married we don't owe NJ state tax if we file jointly married it says we owe

[meredithpr_21]

I would like to file Joint married with my husband. We both live in NJ. He works in NJ and I work in NYC.  If we file separate but married we don't owe NJ state tax, in fact we each get money back (I get NJ and NY and him just NJ). But if we file jointly married it says we owe $495 to NJ state. I put in the tax credit for myself for double taxation and it still shows we owe. Is there something else I need to input?

[DS30]

Just make sure that you are doing 2 things when preparing your state returns jointly -

• Make sure that you are filing a nonresident state income tax return for NY and that only your NY income is being taxes as NY sourced income.
• Make sure on your NJ jointly filed resident state income tax return that your NY sourced income is only included once and that you are getting the tax credit from your NY nonresident return on your NJ jointly filed return.

If you have prepared both your jointly filed and married by separately filed state return this way (see below for how to prepare a married filing separately return if filing federal return jointly) and your married filing separately returns provide you with an overall lower tax liability on your NJ resident state tax returns, then you would do better to file your state returns as married filing separately.

Here is additional information if you are wanting to file as married filing separately :

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3301995