Bare with me. I am newly married and we are filing jointly for the first time. My husband is a Marine and we're using Taxslayer.com because it's free for military. I am beyond confused on what to do when it comes to our state returns.

My husband enlisted with the Marine Corps in October 2007 out of Indiana. He has been stationed in California for the entirety of 2008. California does not require him to file a return since he doesn't make any non-military income here, nor is it his "home state" according to his military paperwork.

Then there's me. I lived in Maryland when 2008 began. While living in Maryland, I worked in Virginia and DC. I moved to California in September, before we were married, so it wasn't technically because of the military.

So, my questions are (I know, I know)...

a) Does my husband not need to file any specific state returns?
b) Do I file 'part year' for Maryland and California, and 'nonresident' for Virginia and DC?
c) Should we file them as 'married filing separate'?
d) Taxslayer.com automatically fills them out with our federal return information; should we go about this differently?

Thank you, thank you and THANK YOU!

More than likely, Marine husband has to file a Indiana return for his military income, because that is his state of domicile.

If you file jointly on the federal return, you MUST file jointly on the Maryland, California and Virginia return, but you will only pay taxes on income earned in the respective states.

DC only taxes its residents, NOT those who worked in DC, so you have NO requirement to file the DC return.

You know, this is really too complicated for you to handle as a lay person, even with tax software.

Email me at [email protected] and we will discuss it in more detail.