Married couple living in different states, filing jointly. Spouse does not work. When filing her state return, it captures my W2 and says we owe money. How to avoid this?

[RaviYen]

I'm confused with you answers for other states AR/TN,

Really appreciate if you can answer my questions along with Question number. Thank you.

[Hal_Al]

@RaviYen  I'm not familiar with OR tax rules or the OR TT software to give you specific answers.

But, based on general rules for state taxes and Federal MFS vs MFJ:

You're doing something wrong if MFS is coming out better.

Your situation is the same as the TN/AR asker:  You and your spouse are full year OR residents and OR gets to tax  her WA income.

[RaviYen]

Thank you. 

My wife didn't stay with me during this period. And she worked in WA. Is she still considered OR Resident.

[michelleq84]

Hi, I can’t claim AR as my residence. I live and work in TN and my husband lives and works in AR.  How should we file our taxes? 

[kjb07]

I have a similar situation where my spouse and I lived in different states for the most part of 2019.  She couldn't take the weather in Arizona where I lived and worked, so she moved with the kids to California and stayed for pretty much the whole year and I would visit for three days or so every other week.  She had no income at all, and I eventually became a remote worker and move to CA in mid-December of 2019.  We rented in both places. So presumably I was a part year resident of CA (spent about 75 days there in total), but all of my income and vast majority of residence for the year was in AZ and that is where I paid taxes.  Now CA sends me letters indicating I am delinquent on taxes due to them as a resident for the entirety of 2019.  This doesn't seem right, but would I lose this argument based on my family having lived in CA for the whole year?  We are not high enough income to where getting a lawyer for this would be cost effective.

[Hal_Al]

@kjb07  I'm not sure you need a lawyer, but you probably  need a tax pro. You probably were a CA resident for 2019. Even, so, CA should give you a credit for AZ taxes paid. You should probably go to a local tax pro to help you prepare your amended 2019 return and attached statement. You may also need to do an amended AZ return as well. 

[jkhallmd]

If my wife lives in KY with no income but I work in KY(live in IN) can we file married filing jointly in IN?

[Hal_Al]

@jkhallmd  You should ask a fresh question (rater than tagging on to an existing thread) to get increae chances of someone familiar with IN rules seeing your question.