Hi all,

I am a full year resident in MA during 2009 and my spouse is part year resident in MA during the same period. I want to file a joint return and my spouse has no income(does not have a SSN but have a ITIN). But MA is showing a penalty for Health care for my spouse because of the part year residency. How do I avoid this penalty ?

Please advise.

Thanks in advance.

There is no way to avoid the penalty - I used to live in MA. The only way to avoid it is to not claim him as a part year resident - as in - did he stay there a total of 3 months or less? Did he claim the address in MA as his home address for that time?

There is no way to avoid the penalty - I used to live in MA. The only way to avoid it is to not claim him as a part year resident - as in - did he stay there a total of 3 months or less? Did he claim the address in MA as his home address for that time?

Thanks for your answer.

The part year resident in MA was for 7 months(june through december) in 2009 and my spouse was out of country for the first 5 months...

You CAN avoid the penalty by appealing the penalty determination. The software will then NOT apply the penalty, and you will then be able to explain the logic behind WHY you should not have to pay the penalty.