What is the best way to go about this scenario?

We live in NY. I work in NJ. She works in NY. We filed
federal jointly(MFS) and we we will get back 3500. We tried
to file NY state and it says we owe 2700? do we have to NY
state jointly, and do we have to file NJ jointly, even
though I am the only one that worked there. Thanks.

Close variants of this question recently appeared on
misc.taxes and us.taxes.

If you check on the websites of the NY department of
taxation and finance or the NJ department of taxation, under
filing status, you will find that, for NY purposes, you must
file with the same status you filed for federal purposes
because you are both NY residents and don't meet any of the
exceptions.

For NJ purposes, and assuming that the two of you do not
also meet the residency test for NJ purposes, you will
qualify for one of the exceptions to the requirement that
you use the same filing status for NJ purposes that you used
for federal purposes.

Since you had NJ-source income, you should file a separate
NJ return, under Married Filing Separately, to report that
income. Your wife does not have to file a NJ return
(assuming she's not a resident) unless she also had
NJ-source income. N.B. even if both of you had NJ-source
income, you may each still file separate returns if one or
both of you are not NJ residents.

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"Apala Man" <apalati...[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

Most states require you to use the same filing status as on
the federal return. I don't know specifically about NY or
NJ. The usual way of handling earnings in a state in which
you don't resided is to file NJ as a non-resident and pay
taxes on NJ income, then claim a credit on your NY tax
return for taxes paid to NJ. There may be special agreements
between NY and bordering states. If you don't know what they
are, you might want to consult a tax professional in your
area.

<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

What is the best way to go about this scenario?

We live in NY. I work in NJ. She works in NY. We filed
federal jointly(MFS) and we we will get back 3500. We tried
to file NY state and it says we owe 2700? do we have to NY
state jointly, and do we have to file NJ jointly, even
though I am the only one that worked there. Thanks.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >