Dear Sir

I got married in Dec 2006. My wife lived in Texas for the entire 2006 and I live in Ohio for the entire 2006. I have some questions regarding filing this years taxes.

1) If we file our federal return under "married filing jointly" status, then can we file my Ohio tax return under "married filing separately". If yes, then does my wife have to file a separate Ohio return at all, since she never lived there? Or does she still have to file the Ohio return as a non-resident? Texas does not have state taxes

2) We got married in India and returned back to the USA only in Feb 2007. Hence, can we file under "single" status for 2006, because we never spent a day in the USA in 2006 after we got married. (Both of us are on H1B and are resident aliens for tax purposes)

Thanks
PG

AtlantaTaxExpert

If you file MFJ on your federal return, you have to file that way for Ohio. However, you only have to pay taxes on Ohio-based ncome, so it works out in YOUR favor.