I'm looking for advice on how to determine which states require a tax return due to the PTP in which I'm invested. So far, there have only been passive losses from the partnership so there's been no taxable income. Also, for the record most of the losses are in the single digit range with a few states having 2 digit losses, so I'd like to avoid having to do a tax return over such a small amount if possible.
From looking at various state tax department websites, I've found a few states where it seems I either am required or it's to my advantage to file. In particular:
-PA has a requirement to file a tax return for any loss, no matter how small, in any income category even thought he loss cannot be carried over to future years.
-NY has its own version of federal form 8582 (IT-182) and it appears that filing a return there with that form is necessary to track the cumulative losses in the event there is positive income in the future.
-AL explicitly says it does not have a passive loss limitation for state tax purposes, so I'm assuming that filing a return to claim a NOL for the loss is necessary to preserve that loss to offset future positive income there.
There are a few states which have (what I consider to be) reasonable filing requirements for non-residents (in the $500 to $1000 range), so based on the usual losses it's unlikely to ever have to file there, and I'm ignoring those states.
However, the majority of states I've looked at appear to have a requirement for a non resident with ANY income attributable to the state to file a non-resident return. Since I've had only losses so far, I generally haven't filed for those states assuming that I'll just claim the loss in the future either because the state tax department is tracking the losses from the state K-1 variant (like the IRS does) or I'll just have to pull out all of my old K-1's to claim the loss if I ever have positive income there. However, the main fear I've had is whether the states that require a bonus depreciation add back would consider that add back to be gross income and trigger the filing requirement. Out of caution last year I filed several state tax returns in those states where I listed the bonus depreciation add back as income and claimed a loss equal to the add back for a net 0 state income.
So my questions are.
-Am I on the right track with PA/NY/AL?
-Are there any other states with unique requirements similar to those 3 states (e.g not having a passive loss limitation or having a special form to file to carry forward passive losses)?
-Am I wasting my time preparing the returns for those bonus depreciation states who require a non-resident return for any state gross income?
Finally, is there any freely available resource on the web which puts in one place all of the "do I have to file" questions for state returns with PTP income or losses?
