What if my spouse earned income in another state?

[Anonymous]

My wife and I live and work in CA, and are planning on filing as Married Filing Jointly for federal and CA, but she also earned income from work in GA as a non-resident. Should we file her GA taxes as Married Filing Separately, Married Filing Jointly, or as an Individual?  Also, we can credit taxes paid to GA for her GA earnings against the CA filing, correct?

[MichaelL1]

This is the best way to do this.

First, prepare the Federal return MFJ (Married Filing Joint)

Second, do a non-resident return for GA (MFJ) and GA will only tax her income earned while a non-resident of GA, none of yours will be taxed by GA, and none of her non-GA income will be taxed by GA.

Last, file a CA (MFJ) return reporting all the income and then taking a credit for taxes paid to another state (GA).