Hello,

My husband lives and works in Illinois the entire 2009; while I live and work in Indiana in the whole 2009 year. We just got married in 2009 and only get reunion on weekends and holidays.

Now we are going to file the federal tax return with married filling jointly. But we have no idea what the proper way to file state tax return. Can you please give some instructions?

Thank you very much.

Normally, states require that you file in the same way you filed your federal tax return. So file joint return.

On the IL return your husband is resident and will report only his income. You are nonresident and do not have any IL income.
Same treatment for IN.

Thank you very much. This is really helpful.

Actually, if you never lived nor worked in IL, your husband can file as married filing single on his IL return. Same thing for you in IN. The problem with what Mukata said is that if you file jointly then both of you are treated as residents of the state - there's no way to show on a joint return that one of you is a resident and the other isn't, and you have to report all joint income. So file as Married filing Single and that solves the problem.

Thank you, but the problem now is both states require joint filing if we file federal tax jointly.

Now filing the state tax return, it asks for the adjusted gross income from federal tax return. How can I only put one person's adjusted gross income which will look different from what it looks on federal tax return.

This is a different option.

Since my husband and I live in two different states the whole year, but I am living myself with a dependent at my house. And also the dependent who lives with me is my mother who has no income and is a qualified dependent relative. Can I file the tax return as head of household, and my husband files the tax return as married filing separately.

Thank you

And also the dependent who lives with me is my mother who has no income and is a qualified dependent relative.

Several questions here:

1. You can not ile as HoH, because you are married. Your weekend "reunions" nulify any claim that you are "essentially unmarried."

2. Take a closer look at the instructions for filing in both IL in IN. Because you lived apart, and neitehr of you have income fromn the other's state. They DO indeed allow you to file as married filing separate even though you filed as Married filing jointly for your federal return. That solves all your issues. Look at the IL instructions for line C of IL-1040 -- it says: "If you file a joint federal return and one spouse is a full-year Illinois resident while the other is a part-year or non-resident, you may choose to file married filing separately. In this case, each spouse must determine income and exempti0ons as if he or she had file separate federal returns." And the instructions for IN do not seem to require that you use the same filing status as federal. So why do you think you must?