Both Names On PA Return

[Anonymous]

I have a client who is married, living in TX.  Last year, his wife worked until May in PA and then moved to TX with the same company.  She paid PA taxes and I created her return for PA - No problem.

I set them up to MFJ, but since I did that, both husband and wife's names are on the PA return with nothing noting that the income was hers.  I used the chat and the support representative told me that other than filing MFS, there was no way to either just have her name on the PA return or have it noted that the income was hers.

I guess that I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a way to just show her name on the PA return while filing MFJ?  I  would hate for them to loose some refund money because they had to file MFS if there was a way to avoid it.
   
   
2. Will the PA authorities have an issue if they still want to file MFJ and his name is also on the return and it is not marked as her income?

Thank you all for your help!

Jeff

[sjrcpa · Accepted solution]

I have never filed a MFJ return anywhere that did not have both spouses names on it.

I don't see what they might lose with MFS. PA basically taxes the PA income at the flat rate. MFJ v MFS should not change PA tax.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking about the difference between return amounts between filing MFJ vs. MFS on their Federal returns.  However, can the wife file MFS only for PA and keep the Federal return the same (MFJ)?

I am sure that is a very basic question, but I have not been able to find the definitive answer.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I was able to find an article about different filing status' for PA.  They said it is OK, but the PA return can't be e-filed if the status is different for Federal and PA.