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

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.

I am filing married filing Jointly. I have residence in Florida and my husband has residence in RI. Salaries are retirement. No wages earned in either state. How do I file state return(s)?

maxpeanut: if your principal abode is FL (meaning that's your principal home, and you spend less than 183 days in RI), and his is RI, then he can file in RI as Married Filing Separate even though you are are filing your federal return as Married Filing Jointly. He reports his full income to RI and pays tax accordingly. Your income is not reported to RI, as you are a non-resident of RI with no RI-based income.

My wife is from AZ and I'm from LA. We live in LA now. How do we go about paying state taxes? We were married in Aug. 2011.

You will have to file a part-year return for Arizona, and a full-year return for Louisiana. You can file JOINTLY for both states on the presumption that you will file jointly for the federal return, but you pay taxes ONLY on income earned in each respective state.

If you need professional help filing, double-click on my title, then scroll down to the bottom of the page to get my email address.

So you were a resident of CA all year and she was a resident of LA until August, and a resident of CA since then, correct?

You should most likely file jointly for your federal return. Your wife files as a part-year resident in AZ, and will pay taxes on her income during her period of residency. She can file in AZ as married filing jointly.

For CA you file as married filing jointly using the non-resident tax return 540-NR, and schedule CA to document the portion of your wife's income that is not subject to CA tax.

ebaines:

Where did you get California from the OP? I read Arizona and Louisiana.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AtlantaTaxExpert

ebaines:

Where did you get California from the OP? I read Arizona and Louisiana.

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I interpreted "LA" as Los Angeles! Perhaps jarrettwindham can clear up the confusion..

You might be right, given the proximity of Los Angeles to Arizona vice Louisiana. Let's see what he says.

My husband lived in Utah and I lived in AZ in 2012 and we are planning the file the fed tax return jointly. When we file the state tax return in UT, it takes all of our income as taxable in Utah (while it only takes my income as taxable in AZ). Do you know how to adjust the taxable income in Utah?

Use Utah Form TC-40B to separate out your Utah and Arizona incomes.

Your Utah income will be taxed as at somewhat higher tax rate, but ONLY the Utah income should be taxed.