I am receiving Virginia EF Message 1020, which states that this return cannot be e-filed in its current state; however, I need to file a VA return for the spouse. What can I do?
Virginia EF Message 1020 generates when data entry indicates that:
- the federal return is being e-filed as Married Filing Jointly;
- the primary taxpayer is a non-resident with no Virginia sourced income, but;
- the spouse is a part year resident of Virginia with some VA sourced income (who may need to file either a 760PY with VA filing status 3, or a 763 non-resident return).
The Virginia e-file system cannot at this time accept a return in this situation.
The text of EF Message 1020 details a few different alternatives for resolving this issue, including:
- paper filing the spouse's Virginia return;
- splitting the return. This allows the spouse to have their own separate return, independent of the MFJ federal return, for the purpose of filing only the Virginia return on the correct form with the correct filing status for their particular situation. For more information on splitting returns, and suppressing the e-filing of the federal return, see the Related Links below.
- Note that Pay Per Return packages will reduce the number of available returns when a separate return is created for the spouse through the splitting process. See Related Links below for more information on PPR limitations.
- making the spouse who has VA income the primary taxpayer on the return. This option requires changing the SSN on the file from one spouse to the other (see Related Links below for more on this process), correcting the spouses' demographic information on screen 1, and reviewing all Data Entry screens to ensure that the TSJ code correctly identifies the spouse who contributed the information entered on that screen.
- Note that Pay Per Return packages will reduce the number of available returns when the SSN is changed on return. See Related Links below for more information on PPR limitations.
For more information on determining the appropriate state residency form and filing status to be used, see the instructions for Virginia forms, or the state webpages on residency status and filing status.