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This article applies to:

  • Product: UltraTax CS
  • Return type: 1040 Individual
  • State: All states,Alabama,Alaska,Arizona,Arkansas,California,Colorado,Connecticut,Delaware,District of Columbia,Florida,Georgia,Hawaii,Idaho,Illinois,Indiana,Iowa,Kansas,Kentucky,Louisiana,Maine,Maryland,Massachusetts,Michigan,Minnesota,Mississippi,Missouri,Montana,Nebraska,Nevada,New Hampshire,New Jersey,New Mexico,New York,North Carolina,North Dakota,Ohio,Oklahoma,Oregon,Pennsylvania,Puerto Rico,Rhode Island,South Carolina,South Dakota,Tennessee,Texas,Utah,Vermont,Virgin Islands,Virginia,Washington,West Virginia,Wisconsin,Wyoming

Use Filing Status Optimization to create a state-only MFS return

Under certain circumstances, it's either required or more beneficial to file married filing separate for a state return, yet filing married filing joint is still optimal for the federal return. To split income and the federal married filing joint return for state purposes using the Filing Status Optimization utility, take the following steps:
  1. Complete the return, both federal and state, with the filing status of married filing joint (MFJ) specified on the
    1040
     screen.
  2. Open the Filing Status Optimization utility by selecting
    Utilities
    , then
    Filing Status Optimization
    .
    note
    When you open this utility, UltraTax CS automatically generates 2 unique client IDs, one with an ID that ends with TP for the taxpayer and one with an ID that ends with SP for the spouse. The client ID information for the 2 separate clients appears at the top of the
    Filing Status Optimization
     window.
  3. Save the taxpayer and spouse separate returns by marking the
    Save clients upon exit
     checkbox and select
    Run
    . This will create 2 additional clients identified by the unique client IDs specified in the utility.
  4. Open the original, married filing joint return to suppress the state return electronic filing. To do so, mark the
    Suppress the creation of: State electronic file(s) when only filing the federal return/extension electronically
     checkbox on the federal
    ELF
     screen in the Electronic Filing folder.
    note
    You need to mark the checkbox on the
    ELF
     screen within the state's input screens.
  5. Open each of the married filing separate returns to suppress the electronic file of the federal return by marking the
    Suppress the creation of: Federal electronic file when only filing the state return electronically
     checkbox. If additional states attached to the client shouldn't be MFS, delete those by selecting
    File
    ,
    Client Properties
    , then
    Delete State
     in the state tab.
    note
    To suppress the printing of the returns within each client, select
    File
    ,
    Print Returns
    ,
    Options
    , the
    Selected Pages
     tab, then mark or clear the checkboxes to indicate which forms should print with this return.

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