Can a Pennsylvania widow file jointly for year spouse died?

[Andy-C-]

2016 Turbotax Premier will not allow me to complete the PA forms in step-by-step for my widowed mother.  The program says I must prepare two separate single filing PA-40s, one for my mother and one my father, who passed away in August 2016.  PA tax law clearly states that a married joint return can be filed (as of 2013).  Is there anything I can do to avoid having to create two single state returns? Thanks.

[IreneS]

rev. 3/13/2017

I'm sorry for your loss.

Pennsylvania does not allow a joint return when the primary taxpayer is deceased and the secondary (spouse) taxpayer is alive.  Since your father died in 2016, your mother can file a joint federal return, but will have to prepare separate returns for Pennsylvania.  [If the situation were reversed, you would be able to file a joint PA return.]

In order to file a joint return, the surviving spouse has to be listed as the PRIMARY taxpayer on the return.  List your mother as the taxpayer and your father as the spouse.  Then you should have no problem.

[Andy-C-]

Thanks for your condolences.  First, I am using the 2016 Turbotax Premier CD version already.  Second, Pennsylvania absolutely does allow a joint return to be filed when one or both spouses are deceased.  Only Turbotax seems to not allow this which is why I posted my question.  From the PA-40 Instructions, "If a joint return is filed and the taxpayer, spouse or both are deceased, complete the married filing joint oval, the deceased oval and the spouse and/or taxpayer ovals as well as the date(s) of death. The surviving spouse should complete the name and Social Security number section of the return as the primary taxpayer on the return."  Any other suggestions?

[IreneS]

The surviving spouse has to be listed as the PRIMARY taxpayer on the return.  List your mother as the taxpayer and your father as the spouse.  Then you should have no problem.

[Andy-C-]

That did the trick.  Thank you very much!

[ggforney]

My accountant says that you can file a joint return with a deceased spouse in Pennsylvania.  The surviving spouse has to be listed first, but my accountant says Pennsylvania rarely complains if the spouses are in the wrong order.  Turbotax has two bugs.  1.  Not allowing the joint return with a deceased spouse.  2.  Not allowing you to reverse the order of taxpayer and spouse.  I found a work around for Number 1.  I brought my Father back to life for an hour by changing his status on the Federal return from dead to alive.  Then Turbotax was able to prepare a joint Pennsylvania return.  I used a pen to mark up the printed Pennsylvania return, and indicated that my Father was deceased and added a date of death.  We will see if this works.  You can probably change the order of the spouses by playing with the personal area of the Federal return, but I was too far along to bother.  Get rid of one taxpayer then add them back in.

[Andy-C-]

Thanks for your response.  That was good thinking on your part, temporarily entering your father as living so that the PA joint return would be filled out correctly by Turbotax.  I didn't see a way to change the order of the taxpayers in the personal area of the Federal return.  I wound up starting a new form and entering my mother as the primary tax payer.  Lucky for me, their tax situation is not very complicated and it didn't take too long.

[rkbetts]

I'm having the same problem. My husband died and this is my first time doing the taxes. PA instructions said to change the order of the primary filer to surviving spouse, but Turbo Tax won't let me.  It wants me to file separately.  That would be too much work.  Also Turbo Tax did not 'remember' that in PA retirement income is not taxable. I haven't tried to fix that yet, since I can't get past the filing status.

[IreneS]

You need to go the the Personal Info tab and enter your INFO in the first section (as the taxpayer) and then enter your husbands info in the spouse section.

[marklipshutz]

Agree with previous comment. Here's more info.

TurboTax is wrong when it says: "Pennsylvania does not allow a joint return when the primary taxpayer is deceased and tge secondary (spouse) taxperyer is alive. Since <Taxpayer First Name> died in 2019, <Spouse First Name> can file a joint federal return, but will need to prepare separate returns for Pennsylvania".

As previous commenter said, go into Personal Info. Tip: If you try to change the name of the Taxpayer first and both parties have the same surname, TurboTax will squawk that both parties have the same first and last name. Instead:

(1)  Change the first name of the Spouse to a third (placeholder) name.

(2) Change the first name of the Taxpayer to what your previously had for the Spouse.

(3)  Go back to the placeholder name for the Spouse and change it to what you previously had as the first name for the Taxpayer.

[joyce10]

I have followed the advice that others have posted and was successfully able to reverse the order of my parents on the tax form (putting my mother as the primary taxpayer and my deceased father as the spouse).  However, I'm continuing to get the error message when I attempt to file a joint PA return (even when I changed the status of my father, bringing him back to "life").

Anyone have any other suggestions?

I just paid $45 for the extra PA TurboTax State and am hoping I can get my money back if it will not allow me to complete a (legitimate)  joint PA return. 

[JotikaT2]

It depends.

Please comment with the error message you are getting so we can assist you further.

[jmstruwe]

My husband died in April 2019.  After his death I returned to working full time.  He was listed as the primary taxpayer on our 2019 joint federal return and in accordance with the advice in this thread I reversed the personal info and made myself the primary taxpayer for the PA state return.  Now TurboTax is objecting because the Employee SSN on my W-2 info does not match the SSN of the spouse specified in Personal Info.  What do I need to do?

[CatinaT1]

When you change the primary and secondary taxpayer, you need to go in and also change who the W2 is for.  If you originally had it as spouse, you will want to change it to taxpayer.  

Just changing the information is the personal information area is not sufficient.  

[jmstruwe]

I'm sorry, but how do I change it?  The only option I have to do with W-2s is edit the amount taxable in PA.