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ASalinas · Apr 10, 2012, 07:28 PM

My husband is a full time CA resident. He works and his income is only from CA.

I Â am a full-time Florida resident since 2007 and work and got my income only from Florida. Our kids living with me in Fl. We bought a hose in Florida and it is under his name.

We can file federal taxes jointly. But what do we do for state taxes? We both claim our residences in different states. Florida doesn't have State taxes Â If we file taxes jointly/separately in both states, the income reported on line 37 in 1040 (which happens to be combined income since we want to file federal jointly) is required by the states (which considerably increases the tax even though the other person did not receive any income in one state).Â

1. How Â do we file Ca taxes? Did he needs to pay taxes for my Florida income?

2. It will be better to file separately? What are the advantage? Are his expenses deductible?

Any advice will be welcome

Thanks
Alex

ebaines · Apr 11, 2012, 06:08 AM

Since you neither lived nor worked in CA, and have no CA source of income in your name, your husband may file his CA tax as Married Filing Separately even though you file jointly on your federal return. On Page 3 of the instructions for CA Form 540 it says you must file using the same filing status as on your federal rerturn, but with these exceptions:

"Exception: If you file a joint tax return for federal purposes, you may file separately for California if either spouse was:
• An active member of the United States armed forces or any auxiliary military branch during 2011.
• A nonresident for the entire year and had no income from California sources during 2011." [emphasis added]

So your husband files a CA tax return as Married Filing Searately, reporting his income but not yours. And you do need to file a CA tax return at all. For the full set of instructions see: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2011/11_540a_540ins.pdf