Hi,

Last year, we got married. I am working in CA (and was working there for the entire 2014 as well). My spouse was a PostDoc Researcher in PA and moved to MA last year for another PostDoc.

What is the impact of all this on our federal and state taxes? Should we file federal taxes jointly and then state taxes separately? Or is something else recommended?

I was reading about the community property law of CA, but could not completely understand its implications for us. Could you please explain that as well.

Thanks!

In general for most states if your spouse does not live in that state and has no income derived in that state then you as a resident may file as Married Filing Separately (MFS) even though you filed Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) for your federal taxes. This works if you and your spouse have no joint accounts that report income (like a joint savings or investment account). Here are the specific instruction for filing status for CA Form 540:

Use the same filing status for California that you used for your federal
income tax return.
Exception: If you file a joint tax return for federal, 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 2014.
• A nonresident for the entire year and had no income from California
sources during 2014

Your spouse will have to file as part-year resident of both PA and MA. Both states allow him to file as MFS (i.e. there is no requirement in either PA or MA to use the same filing status as on the federal return).

Thanks for all the information!

I read through the help articles here (https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901214-how-do-i-prepare-a-joint-federal-return-and-separate-state-returns), here (https://www.taxact.com/support/1158/filing-status---different-filing-status-of-federal-mfj-and-state-mfs/?txtSearchValue=) and here (Preparing A MFJ Federal Return With Two MFS State Returns Knowledgebase (http://www.taxslayerpro.com/kb/556/preparing-a-mfj-federal-return-with-two-mfs-state-returns)). They pretty much say the same thing:
- Prepare an MFJ federal return (this will be filed).
- Prepare two separate MFS federal returns (these will not be filed).
- Create MFS state returns using the numbers from MFS federal returns.

Is there anything else to keep in mind? Thanks so much for all the help!

For example, should MFJ federal return as well as both MFS federal returns use the same thing: either standard deduction or itemized deduction?
Is there any similar restriction for MFS state returns?