Tax filing, married, but diff state residency

[aliciar6]

DH and I got married end of August, as of yet I haven't changed my residency to PA from NJ....he is a PA resident. He owns a house in PA, I own a house in NJ...

Do we have to file "married filing seperately" or can we still file jointly?

My mom's brother is a CPA and looking into this as well, but we both make close to the same, he does make more, but i have a lot more in deductions than he does because of my mortgage interest and property tax.

Initially we were keeping me a Jersey resident to keep my house as our "primary" residence due to the home buyer tax credit (my 3 years is up end of May), but we put it on the market trying to sell it and at this point we don't care anymore about the stupid tax credit and know we will take a loss on the house.

Now, I'm not sure what will make the most sense for us, for me just to become a PA resident or just stay as it is for this year.

So I could really use some advice from the financial gurus here.

[mwcpa]

you have a possible difficult situation....

more than likely a joint federal tax return will provide a lower tax, but many states require that you file for state purposes the same as you filed for federal.

In your case, what may be an idea.... have 2 part year resident tax filings prepared for 2012 (it seems you were back and forth between the two)... you would effectively be reporting your earnings prior to marriage to the state you each lived in, then report the post marriage based on your residency... and residency is not as easy as some may think... states have specific guidelines as to what defines a resident....

If you cannot apply my idea then you may be required to file two "resident" tax filings, but, I assume you worked in NJ and he in PA, you would get a credit on the resident NJ for tax he paid to PA and in PA you would get a credit for the tax paid to NJ (on your wages).. the only thing that could be "double taxed" would be your interest, dividends, etc.