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How to File Taxes When You and Your Spouse Move to New York at Different Times

You and your spouse will probably have to file separate returns, but New York does give you the option of filing a joint return – as long as you let it tax all your money

The following is a slightly modified question from one of our readers:

My wife lived and worked in New York City for all of 2012. I lived and worked in Maryland for one month and then lived and worked in NYC for eleven months. I have already filed in MD as a part-time resident. For New York State, though, I am a bit confused. I have filled out a resident return for my wife and a part-time resident return for myself (including a part-time NYC resident worksheet for myself). Do we file jointly as we did for our federal return or do we each file separately? Does this affect our standard deduction? It seems like the two forms we filled out (IT-201 and IT-203) should be filed separately.

This is precisely of the sort of question that boggles taxpayers across the country. State tax residency is such a popular topic on this blog precisely because it is so complicated.

Every taxpayer is responsible for filing a resident return in the state where they live, unless that state happens to be one of the nine that don’t have an income tax. Continue reading “How to File Taxes When You and Your Spouse Move to New York at Different Times”

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Can I Get a Refund from 2009 Taxes?

You must have filed by April 15, 2013 in order to claim your 2009 tax refund.

$917 million. That’s how much money in 2009 refunds was just sitting in the Treasury waiting to be claimed.

The IRS announced that there were an estimated 984,000 people who didn’t claim their 2009 refunds. That’s an average refund of $932 per person! If that’s your money don’t let it go to waste.

You can still get your 2009 refund, but not for much longer. You must file your 2009 return by April 15, 2013 in order to receive it.

According to the statute of limitations, you have three years after a return’s original due date to file and still get a refund. After three years you can still file, but you won’t see any money. Your refund now belongs to the Treasury. Continue reading “Can I Get a Refund from 2009 Taxes?”

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Release of Dependency Exemption – Form 8332

This form can release a child’s dependency exemption to the noncustodial parent

Children can be a great boon to your tax situation, because they often mean a larger refund. But in cases of divorce or separation, children can also make tax returns much more complicated than they would be otherwise.

In these cases, certain decrees or settlements may necessitate the custodial parent signing over the child’s dependency exemption to the noncustodial parent.

In order to do this, you must file Form 8332 [Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent].

Use this form if you are the custodial parent and you want to Continue reading “Release of Dependency Exemption – Form 8332”