Part-Year Residence using Proseries

[Mike Mac]

I can't seem to find the right combination of check boxes to use in Proseries to use when I have one spouse a full year resident of one state (IA) and the spouse a part year (or full year for that matter) of another state (MN). There are spaces to fill out for non-residence periods in a box on the bottom but not part year. When I use those boxes the dates just don't flow correctly to the MN return and I get e-file errors when I overide them (I know I can work around that but I just want to figure out how to do it correctly).

I hate it when these mechanical things slow down the whole process so I thought figured one of the participants of the board knows the answer. I have not tried asking on the Proseries board because most of those folks don't seem to really be professional preparers (plus with this post I'll become a SENIOR member)

Mike

[Gretel]

Mike, welcome to the senior club.

I hate it too, when ProSeries makes me find the right boxes to check. I do not have the answer to your question, but I do remember that, some years ago, I even had to do one state return by hand because it was impossible to do it with ProSeries. Good luck on yours.

[AZ-Tax]

I am a ProSeries user

[QUOTE=Mike Mac;78969]I can't seem to find the right combination of check boxes to use in Proseries to use when I have one spouse a full year resident of one state (IA) and the spouse a part year (or full year for that matter) of another state (MN).

Mike, I am confused. Are we talking a MFJ with spouse 1 being a full time resident of IA and spouse 2 being part year resident of MN? There can be many combos to this. Did spouse 2 reside in MN until he/she married spouse 1 sometime in 2008 or did spouse 2 just leave IA for a couple months in 2008 and reside in MN?

Now I have a client who resides in AZ then goes to another state where this taxpayer (TP) owns a 2nd home for about 5 mos out of the year. AZ is this TP's full year resident state and the other state will be this TP's non residence state. I enter the dates when the TP lived in AZ, lived in the other state then was back in AZ so that 3 lines are completed in the Part X table of the info worksheet.

Actually I have tried the ProSeries message board and I believe it worth your time to post your question(s).

[David1980]

Mixed residency status returns always suck. I don't think it's actually a proseries issue as much as it is a state in general issue. They don't seem to plan for MFJ returns where the couple didn't live together the full year in one state or another.

Usually what I end up doing on these is pulling the state main form instructions and seeing what if any information is given on how to file a mixed residency return. Some states for example will have you do a non-resident joint return even though one spouse was a resident. Some states allow mixed residency status. Some states will force you into MFS on the state return. I've seen one where a non-resident/part-year resident was clearly explained but a part-year resident full-year resident was not...

So the first question should be "how do I preparer the form?" and not "how do I preparer the form in Proseries?" Once you know what form to use and how the form should look, it's much easier to get the form to look that way in whatever software you are using.

[Jesse]

I can't seem to find the right combination of check boxes to use in Proseries to use when I have one spouse a full year resident of one state (IA) and the spouse a part year (or full year for that matter) of another state (MN). There are spaces to fill out for non-residence periods in a box on the bottom but not part year. When I use those boxes the dates just don't flow correctly to the MN return and I get e-file errors when I overide them (I know I can work around that but I just want to figure out how to do it correctly).

I hate it when these mechanical things slow down the whole process so I thought figured one of the participants of the board knows the answer. I have not tried asking on the Proseries board because most of those folks don't seem to really be professional preparers (plus with this post I'll become a SENIOR member)

Mike

In the Part X of the federal information sheet if you fill out the Nonresident portion you can fill in the state and then the residency status is a "drop down" list for Nonresident, full-year resident or Part year resident. I have not had to deal with two different spouses in two different states so I'm not sure if it flows accurately to the states?