Check the appropriate box to indicate your fi ling status.
Generally, your filing status must match your federal income tax fi ling status for this year. If you are not certain of your filing status, consult the information in your federal income tax booklet or call the IRS at 800-829-1040. Although you and your spouse file jointly for federal purposes, you may be required to file separate Connecticut returns. See Special Rules for Married Individuals, below. If your filing status is qualifying widow(er) with dependent child on federal Form 1040 or 1040A, do not enter your spouse name or SSN in the spaces provided for 1040.
Special Rules for Married Individuals
When one spouse is a Connecticut resident or a nonresident and the other spouse is a part-year resident, each spouse who is required to fi le a Connecticut income tax return must file as married fi ling separately. When one spouse is a Connecticut resident and the other is a nonresident, each spouse who is required to fi le a Connecticut income tax return must fi le as married fi ling separately unless they:
• File jointly for federal income tax purposes; and
Elect to be treated as if both were Connecticut residents for the entire taxable year.
year residents of Connecticut but do not have the same period of residency, married filing separately is your Connecticut income tax fi ling status. When both spouses are part-year residents of Connecticut and have the same period of residency, you may choose married
fi ling jointly or married fi ling separately as your Connecticut income tax fi ling status. When one spouse is a nonresident alien and the other is a citizen or resident of the United States, each spouse who is required to fi le a Connecticut income tax return must fi le as married fi ling separately unless:
An election is made by the nonresident alien and his or her spouse to fi le a joint federal income tax return;
A married fi ling joint return is fi led for federal income tax The spouses are otherwise required or permitted to file a joint Connecticut income tax return.
The election to file a joint return means the joint federal adjusted gross income must be used on Form CT-1040, Line 1. It also means the spouse who would not otherwise be required to fi le is now jointly and severally liable for any tax liability associated with the fi ling of the income tax return. If you are filing a joint federal return with your spouse but are required to fi le a separate Connecticut return, each of you will have to recompute your federal adjusted gross income as if you were each fi ling as married fi ling separately for federal
income tax purposes. Enter on Form CT-1040, Line 1, your income as recalculated.