My spouse temporarily moved to Massachusetts from MI and stayed during the summer, then moved to CA. While she was living in MA, she did not have any income at all, although she worked and had income before (MI source) and after (CA source).

It might be a silly question, but does she have to file a MA tax return (in case of a 'married filing separately' option)? My confusion came from the MA tax instructions stating that "Who must file? You were not a resident of Massachusetts for the full year and your gross income was more than $8,000 — whether received from sources inside or outside of Massachusetts." I thought I need some enlightenment here.

I would greatly appreciate your help.

If you want to play it super safe I suppose she could file in MA and show $0 income. However, this seems unnecessary to me. As long as she has no W-2 showing any MA income, and had no other income over the summer - which means no dividends or interest received, no capital gains transaction, etc - then I don't think she needs to file in MA. Stated another way - ALL her income for the year will be split between WI and CA, with nothing unaccounted for - correct?

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Originally Posted by ebaines

Stated another way - ALL her income for the year will be split between WI and CA, with nothing unaccounted for - correct?

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Thank you so much for your answer! Yes, that is correct. She has only two W-2's, one from MI and the other from CA, and her interest income, which was from a bank in CA, was included in the CA tax return. Perhaps am I just overcautious?