[dumbdodo]

Hello,
I got married last year and also started a new job last year. I moved from Texas to new York. How do I filey taxes so that I don't have to pay state taxes on the invome I earned in Texas since a tax software I am using automatically assumes that all my income is from new York and says I owe state taxes. Slso my husband is in Boston, MA and we were wondering if we should file as married,filing jointly or as married filing separately since we are actually in two different states at the moment? Please help! Thank you!

[ebaines]

First regarding the move and what the software does - yes, it will ask about all your income for the year, but this is only to establish the appropriate income tax rate for you. If you have indicated to the software that you were a part-year resident of NY then it should also ask how your income is split between the time you lived in TX versuis the time you lived in NY. For example if you earned $25K while living in TX and $75K in NY it will calcuilate a preliminary tax based on the total of $100K of income but then multiply the resulting tax by 75%. I hope this explanation makes sense.

If your husband's residence is MA, and if he has not resided at all in NY nor has any income from NY sources, then you may file as Married Filing Separately on your NY part-year return even though you filed as Married Filing Jointly on your federal return. Same with your husband - if you have not lived in MA nor have any MA income then he too may file in MA as Married Filing Separately. By the way - it's OK if you have visited each other - it's just that you can't have earned income nor officially resided in each other's states.

[dumbdodo]

Thank you for the quick response, ebaines. Also, if I moved for work related purposes, can I factor in my moving expenses toward ta es. My moving expenses are less than $5k. I so donated my furniture and housrhold stuff when I moved. However the total amount would be less than $10k including the move and donation. Does it make sense to worry about moving expenses and donations if we file our fexeral taxes jointly? Or would it b better to file as married filing separately and use the expenses/donation? What scenario may be better?

[ebaines]

Usually you are better off filing jointly, but it's advisabl to run the numbers both ways and see which works best. Your tax software should be able to determine that for you.