VA and AL part year question.

[mvp2885]

Confused about proseries state return. Situation is, couple are filing MFJ. Guy is military and lived in AL  last year till September. Moved to VA in September. Wife lived and worked in VA all of 2019. How do I go about doing the “non resident part?” Because he’s a resident now in VA but was in AL till September. Should I do part year resident for VA or AL? Very confused 

[rbynaker]

[Cross-posted from TTB]

It's often a confusing situation. First thing you have to figure out is the state of residence. There's a good article here:

https://www.military.com/paycheck-chronicles/2015/02/27/residence-vs-home-record

If the military member intended to, and did, change his domicile from AL to VA in September then he will have a part-year AL return and a part-year VA return. That's probably not the case though because then he would probably have VA wages and withholding after he told the military that he had a new domicile. Unless you're saying he was discharged in September and was unemployed after that date, in which case he's no longer covered under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

If he did not change his domicile then you may have a full year AL for him and a full year VA for her. This is not easy to do in ProSeries and you may end up needing to paper file something.

Are we having fun yet?

Rick

[mvp2885]

Thank you for the reply. I believe he will be a full year AL resident because he said that he was still being paid out of AL and his DFAS W-2 has AL wages only. 

Now if that is the case, I was reading through Virginia's Taxation website and it states that couples 
Can't file a MFJ state return if one spouse is nonresident of another state. https://www.tax.virginia.gov/filing-status

So basically on proseries, I will only file MFS for the state return for both? I'm not in the office right, but I'm thinking if there is even an option to select that on the state return? Never seen it. Thanks again. 

[rbynaker · Accepted solution]

Right.  I don't know the AL rules so you'll have to look those up.  At this point I'm mostly just thinking out loud, but here's what I would try:

1) Complete your federal return, being careful to code everything TSJ.  When you're done with everything split the return for MFS.  I don't split often so make sure you keep a copy of the MFJ version.  You want to have three PS files now.

2) Be careful checking efile boxes.  Your MFJ version should have federal only.  Each of your MFS versions should have state only.

3) This might still create "duplicate SSN" problems.  My solution was always to move the duplicate files out of the data directory so PS could no longer find them.

4) Efile federal but don't do anything else until you have an Ack (then print/save your efile acceptance stuff)

5) Move the federal file out of view from PS, then move the MFS states back in and efile them.  Wait for Acks, print/save/etc.

6) Move your federal file back into the data directory.

No guarantees this will even work.  Some states can only be sent piggy-back with federal so you may end up needing to paper file something.

If you weren't having fun before, I'm sure you are by now!

Rick

[mvp2885]

You are Awesome!! Yes, I will at the AL rules. Thank you so much for the details! 🙂 

[rbynaker]

I was able to locate this "official" word from ProSeries:

https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/help-articles/help/e-filing-married-filing-joint-form-1040-w...

Rick

[mvp2885]

Great Thanks!!!