kramer31 wrote:

- quote -

Oregon has no sales tax, so you might want to re-think the
"extremely high" description (said the California resident
who pays 8.25% sales tax).

Oregon does allow spouses who are residents of different
states to use a filing status on their state return
different from federal -- see the oregon.gov web site.
However, if your wife and other family members remain in
Oregon, if you have real property there, if you maintain
bank accounts and other ties there, if you spend more than
30 days a year there, you will have a very hard time showing
you are not still an Oregon resident and subject to Oregon
income tax.

Also note that if you change your domicile to Washington
(domicile and residency are two different but related
concepts) your wage income will be subject to community
property rules, meaning half of it will be taxable to your
wife on her Oregon resident return.

Spouses filing as residents of different states are advised
to consult a professional tax adviser, at least the first
year.

-Mark Bole

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kramer31 <kramer.newsreader[at]gmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

My understanding is that filing separately isn't a problem
if your incomes are the same, and becomes more of a problem
the more one makes than the other. So filing separately
isn't necessarily bad.

I don't do returns, so I may be way off base, so let me know
if this doesn't make any sense.

First, it probably depends on state law whether you can file
differently for federal and state purposes. In California I
believe you have to do it the same for both.

But the thing I'm thinking of is that Washington is a
community property state, meaning that half your earnings
there automatically belong to your wife as if she had earned
them. If you file separate returns you each may be able to
claim half the Washington income for federal tax purposes.

Stu

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- quote -

You'll move to Washington and she'll stay in Oregon? In
that case you should each file taxes where you live.

On the other hand, if you're planning to commute from your
existing joint home in Oregon and just pretend you live in
Washington, well, I wouldn't do that.

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Hello. My wife and I currently live in Oregon a state with
extremely high state taxes. However, I may take a job in
Washington where the are no state income taxes.

Is it possible to file our federal taxes jointly and state
separately? I mean, it seems pretty unfair that I should
have to pay Oregon state taxes if I am not living there. At
the same time, the federal taxes really screw married people
filing separately. What should we do?

<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << 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. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >