[[I'm having a little trouble trying to fill out my state tax forms and I hope someone can help. I'm in the
military and a Texas resident, therefore I pay no state taxes. My wife and I are currently stationed in
CA and she was forced to become a CA resident since she works. Now she has to pay state
taxes.]]

State tax issues are, obviously, State specific. But CA is a community property state, so filing a separate return may not actually do the trick.

[[ I have a couple of questions: Is it better to have my wife file separately or is joint still the way
to go? ]]

Again, since CA is a community property state, you would have to end up reporting half of your wife's income, and she would report half of yours. Same with other community income. For additional information on community income and property, see IRS Publications 504 and 555.

[[Either way CA taxes me on our capital gains, dividends, and interest income(since I foolish
enough to leave name on the account). How do I figure the amount they can tax us on? Do I simply
divide are our capital gains, etc. by two? ]]

Potentially, yes.

[[I myself earned a massive $60 reffing basketball games.
Do I have to report this small amount? If you can point me to a reference or provide any help I
would appreciate it.]]

Yes, you have to report all of your income subject to taxation, regardless of how small. Your best bet would be to visit the following web site...

http://www.caltax.com

This is a "pay" site for tax pros, but there are some areas that you can visit and may help you out with your specific issues. You might also want to visit the CA Franchise Tax Board web site at: http://ftb.ca.gov and see if you can research your married/separate issues there.

TMF Taxes
Roy

SPECIAL NOTE: I try to answer as many questions as I can each week, and I generally select those that have not been asked before. If you don't get a detailed answer to your question, it is probably because my time is so limited during tax season, or because it has already been asked and answered in this folder in the past, or because it has been discussed in the Taxes Frequently Asked Questions area. In order to visit the Taxes FAQ area, go to the Fool's School area (http://www.fool.com/school.htm) and check out "Other Features" in the list box, OR you can jump directly to the Taxes FAQ area (http://www.fool.com/school/taxes/taxes.htm). Additionally, if any references were made to the IRS Web Site, you can get there by pointing your web browser to (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov)