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issambajwa
Returning Member

I live in Ohio and my wife lives in Florida. How should we file our federal taxes and state taxes in the respective states?

I want to know whether for the respective states, should we be filing jointly or separately to maximize our returns.

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Accepted Solutions
Hal_Al
Level 15

I live in Ohio and my wife lives in Florida. How should we file our federal taxes and state taxes in the respective states?

FL doesn't have an income tax.

Ohio requires you to use the same filing status that you used on the federal return. So if you file as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) on the federal, you must file OH as MFJ.

You will be allowed to designate yourself as resident and her as non-resident. A non-resident credit will be allowed for the tax on her income.

Ohio does a convoluted tax calculation for non-residents/part year residents. It calculates tax on total income, then it calculates a non resident/part year resident credit, which it subtracts from the tax it calculated on the total income. The credit is calculated as your non-Ohio income divided by Total adjusted Income multiplied by the total tax. TurboTax (TT)   does this by allocating your income as either Ohio or non-Ohio. W-2 income will be allocated by the state name abbreviation shown in box 15 of your W-2. TT will ask you, item by item, in the state section, how much of your other income is Ohio or non-Ohio income. Make sure that your non-Ohio wages show FL (Other state postal abbreviation)  in box 15 of your W-2 screen, with the FL amount in box 16.

Since FL does not have an income tax, boxes 15-17 may be blank on her actual W-2. At the W-2 screen, in TT, enter FL  in box 15. Put the box 1 amount in box 16 and  0 in box 17.

This system allows Ohio to apply their highest tax rate, based on your total income, while only taxing your Ohio income.

Don't be surprised if you get some push back from the Ohio Dept of Taxation (ODT). They (like most snow belt states) take a dim view of dual state residents claiming FL  residency for taxes.


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3 Replies
Hal_Al
Level 15

I live in Ohio and my wife lives in Florida. How should we file our federal taxes and state taxes in the respective states?

FL doesn't have an income tax.

Ohio requires you to use the same filing status that you used on the federal return. So if you file as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) on the federal, you must file OH as MFJ.

You will be allowed to designate yourself as resident and her as non-resident. A non-resident credit will be allowed for the tax on her income.

Ohio does a convoluted tax calculation for non-residents/part year residents. It calculates tax on total income, then it calculates a non resident/part year resident credit, which it subtracts from the tax it calculated on the total income. The credit is calculated as your non-Ohio income divided by Total adjusted Income multiplied by the total tax. TurboTax (TT)   does this by allocating your income as either Ohio or non-Ohio. W-2 income will be allocated by the state name abbreviation shown in box 15 of your W-2. TT will ask you, item by item, in the state section, how much of your other income is Ohio or non-Ohio income. Make sure that your non-Ohio wages show FL (Other state postal abbreviation)  in box 15 of your W-2 screen, with the FL amount in box 16.

Since FL does not have an income tax, boxes 15-17 may be blank on her actual W-2. At the W-2 screen, in TT, enter FL  in box 15. Put the box 1 amount in box 16 and  0 in box 17.

This system allows Ohio to apply their highest tax rate, based on your total income, while only taxing your Ohio income.

Don't be surprised if you get some push back from the Ohio Dept of Taxation (ODT). They (like most snow belt states) take a dim view of dual state residents claiming FL  residency for taxes.


issambajwa
Returning Member

I live in Ohio and my wife lives in Florida. How should we file our federal taxes and state taxes in the respective states?

Which TT product is optimal for me to use for this?
Hal_Al
Level 15

I live in Ohio and my wife lives in Florida. How should we file our federal taxes and state taxes in the respective states?

The TT product you need is totally based on the complexity of your federal return. The state "add on" software is the same regardless of which version of TT you use for your fed return.
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