Tax Type
Individual Income Tax
Description
Filing Separately; One Spouse Residing in Another State
Topic
Taxable Income
Date Issued
10-02-1992
October 2, 1992
Re: §58.1-1821 Application: Individual Income Tax
Dear******************
This will reply to your letter of September 6, 1991 in which you seek correction of an individual income tax assessment for taxable years 1986 through 1988.
FACTS
During the period in question you were an actual resident of Virginia and your husband was a resident of another state. You filed a separate return with Virginia for each of the taxable years. Due to the inadequacy of your financial records, you claimed fifty percent of the itemized deductions incurred by you and your husband for each taxable year. The department recalculated your tax liability for each year by prorating the amount of the itemized deductions based upon the amount of income earned by you and your husband during the periods under examination.
You assert that you have a right to claim fifty percent of the itemized deductions incurred by you and your husband and request that your returns be reworked and your tax liability be adjusted accordingly.
DETERMINATION
Virginia Regulation (VR) 630-2-326 (copy enclosed) states that when one spouse is a resident of Virginia and the other is not a resident of Virginia, and the Virginia resident elects to file a separate return, the resident spouse must account separately for each item of income, deductions, and expenses. In the event that items can not be accounted for separately, deductions and personal exemptions must be allocated between each spouse based upon the income attributable to each spouse.
Accordingly, unless you can account for each deduction item separately, which you indicated was not possible due to an inadequacy of your financial records, you must allocate the itemized deduction amounts based upon the amount of income attributable to both you and your husband. Based upon VR 630-2326, the department's recalculation of your tax liability amounts for taxable years 1986 through 1988 using the income allocation percentages is correct. Your request that the department recalculate your tax liability amounts for the years under examination is, therefore, denied.
Sincerely,
W. H. Forst
Tax Commissioner
OTP/5588O
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner