Why did my New York State TurboTax software switch my wife to the primary filer and made me secondary?

[mwolfson63]

I was the primary filer on the Fed return and another state's return I filed. When I filed my New York State return, the software flipped me and my spouse as primary and secondary.

[rjs]

Are you nonresidents of New York and your spouse is the only one who has New York income? In that case New York requires the one who has New York income to be primary on Form IT-203.

[mwolfson63]

We both had NYS income. We both had partial NY and NC income for 2024. Thanks for the quick response! 

[rjs]

It might not be possible for anyone here in the community to explain why the names were switched. There are a lot of possible scenarios. You have given very little detail, and we can't see your tax return. (Don't post it. This is a public web site.) There are situations where New York requires one of the spouses to be primary. Whatever the situation, TurboTax is just following the New York rules.

You might have incorrectly answered the question about who has New York source income. TurboTax relies on your answer to that question, not on the state indicated on your W-2s or other income documents. If you have a PDF of your New York tax return that includes the TurboTax worksheets, look at the New York State Information Worksheet and see if the Spouse box is checked near the top of Part II.