My wife and I lived in separate states prior to getting married in 2016, and the same state after getting married. How should we file our federal and state returns?

[mw104]

My wife and I just got married in 2016.  We wanted to file our federal return as Married Filing Jointly to maximize our eligibility for deductions and credits.  For our state returns, I lived in PA for all of 2016, but my wife lived in OH for half of 2016 (before we were married), and PA for the half of 2016 (once we were married).  Based on previous posts that I have read from other users, it appears that we will need to file our state taxes as Married Filing Separately.  Is this correct?  If so, what are the directions to do this using TurboTax Deluxe 2016?

[DS30 · Accepted solution]

Yes. Since you got married during 2016 and were residents of different states for part of the 2016 tax year, you will be able to file your federal income taxes jointly but you would file your state income taxes as married filing separately.

Since your wife has a part-year filing in both OH and PA and due to the fact that OH and PA have a reciprocal agreement, she will only need to report income earned in each state based on the time she was a resident of each state (regardless of which of the 2 states (PA and OH) she worked in). However, if she had a job in OH then a different one in PA, then only the OH wages will be reported on the OH part-year return and the PA wages will be reported on the PA part-year return.

Here are instructions on using TurboTax for filing federal married filing jointly but state's married filing separately.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3301995

[mw104]

Thank you for your help, Dee.  How should I go about creating these "mock" federal returns?  After creating our joint federal return file, should I perform the following two steps, or is there a better way to spend less time entering information?
1) Copy the federal return file and remove my wife's information in the mock federal return to create my state tax return, and then
2) Copy the federal return file and remove my information in the mock federal return to create my wife's state tax return

[DS30]

Yes. It might be easier to do what you suggest for your copy of the "mock" federal return (if you are the main taxpayer on the jointly filed return (just delete only your wife's info on your "mock" married filing separately (MFS) federal return), but you will need to prepare your wife's "mock"MFS return with her as the primary taxpayer (It might be easier to just create and re-enter her info on a separate federal "mock' return). Please remember not to file any "mock" federal returns with the IRS (Just file the one original married filing jointly copy with the IRS). Good Luck and congratulations on your marriage.

[meazimme]

We have a similar situation where we filed federal Married Filing Joint, but need to file state separately as he spent all year in WI and I split the year between IN and WI.  It is telling me that I need to include a copy of our federal return to our state returns.  Which federal?  The mock that the state is pulling from or the one that we actually filed together.  WI has common property law, which is the reason we filed joint.