spouse in different state. i have no income. does he file state married file separate? do i need to file state?

[ikan2]

My spouse and i lived in different states for 4 months of 2022.    We would like to file married file jointly for federal, but are not sure how to file state.  He has income and I do not.  Does he only need to file married file separately?  Do I need to file?  Also, my kids lived with me during that time.  Would he claim them for state?Thank you for your help.

[xmasbaby0]

You can file a joint return even if one spouse has little or no income, so it does not seem like the fact that you had no income would be an obstacle to filing a joint federal or state return.    As for claiming your children----a step-parent has the same rights to claim a child as a bio-parent.   Or......do you have some sort of agreement with the children's other parent in regard to claiming the children?  You do not mention which parent the children live with---or with whom they live with the most.  It would be helpful to have that information.

[NCperson]

can you please explain why you lived separate for 4 months?  it may not matter for tax filing purposes and you can simply file Joint for both Federal and State.  In other words, you may be unintentially complicated things.  Married couples file Joint yet live apart "all the time" in thsi modern world.  

When you are married, you always have the option to file Joint or Separate - your living arrangment itself doesn't force you into Joint or Separate.  

[ikan2]

Thank you for getting back to me.  The kids are both our biological children.  They all stayed with me in the other state for these 4 months.  One is in college and the other 2 went to high school in this other state for those 4 months.  I was not a resident of this state and did not work in 2022.    Thank you.

[ikan2]

Thank you for getting back to me.  My daughter started college in the other state so me and my other kids (they both went to high school there for those 4 months.) went to stay out there so she could commute.   We were only there for about 4 months in 2022.    I did not work in 2022 and was not a resident there.  Thank you.

[NCperson]

i see no reason why you and your spouse wouldn't file Joint for both Federal and State.   

Filing Separte is an option you have, but not a requirement.  In this case, I can't imagine how that option provides any benefit to your family

There is no filing requirement in the state you were temporarily in since you earned no money there (and neither did your spouse).  

[ikan2]

Does that mean I won't have to put on the federal or state that we were in NY last year?  Thank you.

[xmasbaby0]

The IRS does not care what state you were in -- you can file a joint federal return no matter where you were living.   As for the state--you say you had no income.  The state you will file in does not care about income you did not have in New York, and if you had no income while living in NY you have no state of NY return to file.    It is irrelevant that you lived in NY if you had no income while living there.   You can file a joint return for the state you and your spouse now live in.   From what you have told us it sounds like your spouse is the one who had income, so all of the income on the joint returns will be the income he received while living in whatever state he earned it in.

[ikan2]

Thank you for getting back to me.  Does that mean that I do not have to put that we were in NY for the federal and state  just keep it in the state my spouse was in?  Thank you again.

[xmasbaby0]

Again---you do not enter anything about living in NY on your federal return.   The only address you enter on your federal tax return is the address the IRS needs in order to mail you a letter or a check.    And since you say you had no income when you lived in NY, you have no reason to file a NY return or to enter anything about NY on a tax return.

[ikan2]

Sounds great.  Thank you so much for your help.