Hello, my husband and I got married in 9/1/2012. He was in living and working in Arizona in 2012 and I was living and working in California in 2012. We filed married filing jointly for federal returns.

But for state, what is most beneficial for us to file? Separately or jointly? I make 4x as much as he does in California and afraid I will have to pay Arizona state taxes if we file jointly. Thanks!

California gives you NO choice; you file jointly on the federal return, you MUST file joint on the California return.

As for the Arizona return, you have to model it both ways to determine which is best.