Illinois NonResident Spouse Error

[taxpro2000]

Taxpayer did not live in Illinois in 2019; spouse was a part-year resident of Illinois.  I've entered dates of residency correct on Federal Information Worksheet. However, IL Schedule NR requires dates of Illinois residency for Taxpayer, even though he was not a resident in 2019. ProSeries will not allow me to leave the fields blank or enter "N/A". The next column showed that the Taxpayer lived in another state from 1/1/19-12/31/2019, but the program still requires a date for Illinois. I tried to enter 1/1/19-1/1/2019, but then the error message says the two fields cannot be the same date. Any way to resolve this? Must I just paper file to fix ProSeries bug?

[alphy]

This behavior is not a bug, but is by design because of Illinois rules. Either you treat them both as residents, or you choose MFS. See the following taken from this website: https://www2.illinois.gov/rev/individuals/filingrequirements/Pages/filingstatus.aspx

If you file a joint federal return and one spouse is a full-year Illinois resident while the other is a part-year resident or a nonresident (e.g., military personnel), you may choose to file “married filing separately.” Do not recompute any items on your federal return. Instead, you must divide each item of income and deduction shown on your joint federal return between your separate Illinois returns following the Allocation Worksheet in the Form IL-1040 Instructions.

If you choose to file a joint Illinois return, you must treat both your spouse and yourself as residents. This election is irrevocable for the tax year. You may be allowed a credit for income tax paid to another state on Schedule CR. For more information, see the Schedule CR Instructions.

[taxpro2000]

I did see that, & agree that is correct if the spouse was a full year resident. In my case, the spouse was a part year resident, & the taxpayer was a nonresident. Must the spouse still file MFS? 

[alphy · Accepted solution]

Yes, I see what you're saying. The instructions do not seem to address your particular situation. However, I would tend to think the same applies. Either treat them both the same, or file separately. Assuming the taxpayer has no IL source income, your situation would be fairly straightforward. File one IL return only under the spouse's name. Taxpayer wouldn't even need to file a IL return. If taxpayer has IL source income, then two IL returns would be required. Either scenario would require two separate files in ProSeries. First prepare Federal return like normal, designating income correctly between spouses. Second, "Save As" under a new file name, and simply swap names on the General Information sheet, then choose MFS for IL.

[taxpro2000]

Thank you!