plover wrote:

- quote -

As I said in my first response, there is not enough
information to provide you a firm answer as we do not know
whether your wife is still domiciled in CA. It sounds as
though she is and it sounds as though her living in MA may
be temporary. If her absence is temporary, you could not
file as HOH as she is considered to have lived with you all
year for that test.

In addition, your combined taxes would probably be lower if
you file a joint return.

If you are trying to tell us that you and your wife have
separated and you have custody of a child then please give
us all the facts in one clear post.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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Thanks to all of you.

Do you think i can file Head of house for Federal and CA? My
wife file non-resident/part year resident in both MA and LA?

As for head of house,

1. I own a house in CA
2. I have a baby end of 2004
3. I pay more than half of cost to keep my house

But i am not sure about the requirement of "not live
together" last 6 months. As my wife started working in MA
from July 1 2004 but rented apartment in MA from Aug 2004.

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plover wrote:

- quote -

Not enough facts to determine your status. E.g., if your
wife's domicile was CA, then all of your income and her
income is community income. (Your domicile is your one true
home, the place you always go back to when you are away.)
Therefore, you would file a joint federal and joint CA tax
return. These returns would include your worldwide income.
As CA is her domicile, she can not be domiciled in MA (you
may only have one domicile). Even without a MA domicile, she
may still be a MA resident or a MA nonresident or a MA
part-year resident and part-year nonresident. It all depends
upon the number of days she was present in MA and whether
she had a permanent place of abode. Either way, she can't
file a MA joint return as a resident as you were never a MA
resident. Most likely she will file as married separate in
MA. CA will provide a tax credit for income taxes paid to
MA on the same income she has to report on your CA joint
return.

If she was not a CA domiciliary for the year or part of
year, then the rules are different.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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"plover" <plover22[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

File in those states to the extent you either lived/worked
there. Each state will have varying instructions for filing
status.

--
David M. Woods, EA, ChFC, CLU
Woods Financial Services
Norwood, MA 02062
www.woods-financial.com

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"plover" <plover22[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

You will file as a CA full-year resident. Your wife's status
depends on whether her home was also in CA while she was
attending college. If so, she would be a part-year CA
resident and part-year MA; if she worked while in LA, she
would file a non-resident LA return. Otherwise none of her
income would be reported in CA, and she would only need to
file in LA if she had income while living there.

That's simple compared with one of my clients who last year
had to file in three countries and Colorado; I think this
year it will be four countries.

--
Tom Healy, CPA
Boulder, CO
Web: http://www.tomhealycpa.com

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I live and work in San Jose, CA the whole year. My wife has
been in college in LA from Jan to May 2004 and then worked
in Boston, MA from July to Dec 2004. We file the federal tax
with married joint. How to file the state tax?

thanks,
Sean

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