96-021
Response
May 16, 1996
Request
RE:
Advisory Opinion - Change of filing status on amended income tax returns.
Dear
Delores,
You
asked us for a determination as to whether married taxpayers, one being a
resident and one being a nonresident, who initially file their state income tax
jointly can amend their filing status after the due date by filing separate
returns. The answer is “no.”
Nothing
in Utah law specifically prohibits taxpayers from filing an amended return for
the purpose of changing their filing status.
However, with certain specified exceptions. Utah income tax law is designed to parallel federal tax law. §59-10-102 Utah Code Ann. Nothing in our statutes anticipates a
different treatment of this issue than the treatment under federal law.
Therefore, we adopt the federal rule.
Under
section 6013 (b) of the Internal Revenue Code, married taxpayers who initially
file separately may later amend their returns to a joint return. However, the opposite is not true. The Internal Revenue Code does not allow
taxpayers who initially file a joint return to later amend that return by
filing separately. Conforming to the
federal rule, married taxpayers who file a joint state income tax return under
section 59-10-119 of the Utah Code may not change their filing status after the
due date of the return by filing separate returns.
Thank
you for bringing this issue to our attention.
For
the Commission,
Alice
Shearer
Commissioner
XXXXX
Acting
Director
Auditing
Division
Utah
State Tax Commission
Re:
Request for Review of Advisory Opinion
Dear
Craig,
We
have reviewed your division' s request for clarification of our advisory
opinion issued XXXXX. The opinion
addresses whether taxpayers may amend a return to change their filing status to
take advantage of the special instructions set out in section 59-10-119 of the
Utah Code. Upon review, we find as
follows:
We
have adopted the position that the filing status that taxpayers declare for
federal income tax purposes is the filing status that they must declare for
state tax purposes. State law
recognizes a very narrow exception under the special instructions cited
above. The special instruction allows a
married couple to file a joint federal return and separate state returns if one
of them is a nonresident.
With
regard to amended returns, we are concerned that once a couple files jointly,
one of them may file an amended return to change the filing status without the
knowledge or consent of the other. Such
a change may place the other at risk for a greater tax liability than that
imposed on them under the original filing status. We believe that this is the result that the IRS is attempting to
avoid with its rule that once a couple files jointly, neither of them can amend
the return to change the filing status.
However, we also understand your division's argument that taxpayers
should be allowed to amend anything on the return in order to correct the
return. Although we remain concerned
about the potential consequences that may fall on one of them if the other
unilaterally amends the filing status of a joint return, we believe that this
is a somewhat remote possibility.
Therefore, we adopt the following policy:
Married
taxpayers must declare the same filing status on their state return(s) as they
declared on their federal return(s). To
the extent that the IRS allows them to amend their filing status on a federal
return, they may also amend their filing status on their state return. We recognize a narrow exception with regard
to married taxpayers who qualified under the special instruction at the time
that the original state return was filed.
Such a married couple may amend a return to change the filing status
from “married filing jointly” to “married filing separately.”
Thank
you for bringing this issue to us.
For
the Commission,
Alice
Shearer,
Commissioner