Can you file spouse MFS in Alabama if you file MFJ on the federal? Have military TP who qualifies as non-resident with spouse who does not qualify for MRRSA and had a job. Can you itemize on the state if you took standard on the federal? Complicating things further, it is a part-year.
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From Alabama form 40 destructions:
"Married – Joint or Separate Returns?
Joint Returns. Most married couples pay less tax if
they file a joint return. If you file a joint return, you must
report all income, exemptions, deductions, and credits
for you and your spouse. Both of you must sign
the return even if only one of you had income. The State
of Alabama does recognize a common law marriage for
income tax purposes.
CAUTION: You cannot file a joint return if you are a resident
of Alabama and your spouse is a resident of another
state. You should file as “married filing separate.”
"If you are married and filing separate Alabama returns,
both spouses must itemize their deductions or
both must claim the Standard Deduction. Each spouse
may claim only the itemized deductions he/she actually
paid. See the instructions for Schedule A for items that
may be claimed as itemized deductions."
HTH and thanks for your comment on that Trust thing
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Itemized Deductions
Burke, you can itemize deductions for Alabama without itemizing for Federal.
Alabama itemized deductions include some differences from Federal:
1) The std deduction threshold is much less than Federal
2) The medical haircut is only 4% instead of 10%
3) Long-term care insurance is not subject to above haircut.
4) Social security withheld is an itemized deduction.
Go for it!Comment
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Be careful with line 12 of the AL-40. You have to prorate the fed tax liability on the fed MFJ return based on the spouses separate AGIs.Comment
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If I am not mistaken, I believe my software did that automatically, but I will check. MFJ on federal, but itemized deds were just under the standard, so it defaulted to that. That is why I was wondering if spouse could itemize on MFS return. But only deduction would be spouse's SS tax, since spouse separate income was minimal.Last edited by Burke; 03-11-2016, 04:46 PM.Comment
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