MN State Taxes when Spouse living in another State

[amitsamal07]

I live and work in MN and my spouse in TX all year. So he is a TX resident and I am a MN resident.

We got married last November but still living in different states till we can switch jobs.
When we file Federal as joint there is no issue.

Question is when filing for MN state taxes:

1. Its my understanding we have to use the same status for MN state tax filings as Federal is this correct?.

2. When filing MN if I put my status as resident then its taking the whole AGI of me and my spouse from Federal and saying we owe 4000+. If we do part year resident then i can put specific amount I earned from MN and get a small refund of about $100. Is the correct way to file setting my status as Part Year Resident?

[DMarkM1]

You are correct.  MN says you use the same filing status as your federal return.  Also, you are correct on the MN calculation and allocation process.  Finally, yes, you would file a part-year MN return because your married entity was only part-year in MN.  

The other option you have is to prepare Married filing separate returns and compare the overall (FED plus MN) tax situation with the joint returns and file the way that is best for you. 

TurboTax desktop allows you to prepare up to 5 separate returns if you want to compare.    

[amitsamal07]

If we were married the beginning of the year lets say Feb 2023, then will the filling process still be the same since we stayed in 2 different states all year? 

[DMarkM1]

Yes, the filing will be the same.  Your marital status on 31 Dec was married so generally your options are Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.  Whichever you choose at the federal level you use for MN.  

If you file jointly, you can allocate to MN what belongs to MN from your joint incomes. 

If you file separately, you will only use your MN income on your MN return.  

[confusedwithtax]

Hi, I have the same situation where my spouse lives and works in TX and I live and work in MN. I'm filing MFJ for Federal taxes and would like to do the same for MN taxes too. 

When I am filing for MN on the Turbotax desktop app, I am getting an error with the M1NR form. Since I have selected MN Part Year resident, the app thinks that I am a part year resident too and does not allow me to have my start and end date of MN residency as 1/1/2023 and 12/31/2023. 

Could you please help me how to fix this issue? 

[amitsamal07]

The way I got around this is by reducing my end date from 12/31/2023 to 12/25/2023 or 12/28/2023.

otherwise the only other way was to do it manual.

[vjr1]

Hello, I too am facing the same problem. Were you able to resolve this issue? 

[saty0325]

Did you find a way to figure this out? I am at exact same problem 

[RobertB4444]

There are several resolutions to this issue listed on this old thread.  Can you please clarify what your problem is and what you've already tried?

@saty0325 

[saty0325]

I am MN resident and my wife is MN resident till June 2024 and then a Texas resident thereafter. We are filing jointly. 

On the turbotax portal when i fill as part year resident, the system considers both me and my spouse. I dont see an option where I am full year and my spouse is part year. How to fix it?

[amitsamal07]

Yes i did. you have to file MN as part time resident.

You can set the date of living in MN from Jan 1st till December 25th (you might have to adjust the december date, i dont remember if i set it as 25th or 23rd Dec.

You will have to play around with the dates a bit to see what the system will accept. Your goal is to show you were there for maximum amount of time. so you set the date as the latest in december that it will accept as a part time resident.

And for the person living in TX you set the dates living in MN as 2-3 days in the year.
Then it will give you an option where it will show you combined AGI and ask you how much of your income was earned and taxable in MN and you will populate your MN W2 information there only.

[RobertB4444]

You have to file a schedule M1 and a schedule M1NR to correctly apportion your Minnesota income.  File a joint return just like your federal - Minnesota requires that you use the same filing status.  So file a joint part-year resident return.  Span your spouse's residency up until they moved and then you'll be able to adjust their Minnesota income.

@SATYASHIVA2503 

[saty0325]

I did that and now the system is showing error. It now comnsiders me as part year resident too and is asking me to select my dates. if i select the date as Jan1st to Dec 31st, the system thinks it is an error. I see other people facing the same error. So likely this is a problem in Turbotax software. 

The only way to get around this right now is to keep the date till Dec 25th or some other date rather than Dec 31st. But that makes me a part year resident in MN which is not true.