Minnesota - Filing Status different from federal

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
April 1, 2025
3 replies
21 views

Client came from another tax preparer.

Taxpayer is Virginia resident and spouse is Minnesota resident and their W-2 reflect accordingly

MN Dept of Revenue clearly states filing status for MN has to be the same as federal. But somehow in previous year, the tax preparer managed to file in MN as MFS separately showing only spouse's MN income.

I am looking everywhere worried I am missing something basic. Is it possible they first prepared federal return as MFJ, then went back in prepared federal as MFS, discarded federal and did the MN state separately, showing only the state income thereby lower taxes.

But the question remains. MN state return very clearly states "filing status per federal". Was the previous preparer trying sneak in MFSeparately for MN , thereby blatantly disregarding what the MN state clearly says on its website upfront.

Just wanted to check in with veterans that my understanding correct.

thanks in advance

Hari

This topic has been closed for replies.

IRonMaN

Level 15

They maybe filed it that way but that doesn’t mean MN won’t send them a love letter at some point.

Slava Ukraini!

H

HariSAuthor

Level 3

Thank you!

IRonMaN

Level 15

You betcha!

Slava Ukraini!

BobKamman

Level 15

This raises an interesting Constitutional question. Does Minnesota acquire jurisdiction over a Virginia resident, just because she marries a Minnesotan? For all we know, she has never been in Minnesota.

Can Texas throw a New York doctor in jail, for prescribing medication for one of its residents?

Does Minnesota have "long arm" jurisdiction to assess income tax to a Virginia resident who has no Minnesota income?

Or can they just assess a higher tax on their Minnesota resident, because he married someone from another state? (I was already a college graduate before the US Supreme Court told Virginia that it couldn't ban interracial marriages.)

There may be some case law on this, but if these were my clients I would do some research and at least ask Minnesota, who do you guys think you are? (Nicely, of course. We all remember Derek Chauvin.)

sjrcpa

Level 15

Requiring a joint MN return doesn't mean MN will tax spouse's VA income. I imagine there is some mechanism - either a subtraction or a credit - to avoid this.

The more I know the more I don’t know.

BobKamman

Level 15

My point was that when the Minnesota tax on a joint return is higher than the Minnesota tax on a separate return, then it means that Minnesota is either (1) taxing the Virginia spouse's income; or (2) taxing the Minnesota resident more because of the Virginia spouse. There should be a law against it, either way. If not the Constitution, then a federal law, like the one that says Minnesota can't tax pensions once its resident moves to Virginia.

As a practical matter, I don't think Minnesota has an easy way to find out whether its resident is filing a joint return, when the address on the 1040 is Virginia. IRS sends Minnesota a list of returns filed with Minnesota addresses, and Minnesota's computers rely on that for matching. IRS does not send Minnesota a list of all returns filed in every state.