My daughter went to stay at her sister's in Texas(while she is in Iraq - to help take care of her sister's child) in November 2007. She worked and lived in Minnesota until that time. She has a child and paid for daycare in both states. She maintains her Minnesota voter registration, car registration. She worked for about 5 weeks of 2007 in Texas.

She will probably be coming back to Minnesota when her sister returns from Iraq. How does she file for each state? And... Is there any software that allows her to file each state? Does she have to file in Texas since there is no state income tax? Is there ant credit for daycare in Texas?

I would suggest that your sister consider herself a TX resident as of November. She should file a part-year resident return for MN to cover the period of January-October. There is nothing to file in TX, as they have no income tax. There is no credit for day care in TX, as there is no tax to take a credit against. If she moves back to MN in mid-2008, she will again file a part-year resident return for MN for tax year 2008 to cover her period of residency.

Tax preparation software such as TurboTax can handle this situation quite easily. She will need to purchase the MN state income tax module. I suspect one or more of the professional tax guys on this board may jump in here and tell you that a professional could most likely prepare your sister's taxes for about the same price as TurboTax.

Thank you. She apparently ran to H & R and they charged her over
$200, but it's a done deal.

Thanks again