Tips from those that left California (Brea, Diablo: rentals, tax rates, to live)

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by RMESMH

You don’t think it’s bad because you don’t care, you support it, and you’ve had a vested interest in that status quo. Your livelihood has been derived from that tax money.

I suppose you think that public employees work for free in Texas

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by RMESMH

You mean how things used to be in California.

It's a one way state now.

Yep, because of idiots like Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by RationalExpectations

In addition to the above list:

The California State Franchise Tax Board frequently does an in depth look at people who they suspect might be CA residents merely claiming to be residents of other states for income tax purposes. They will subpoena your bank's records of you - for example, they will look at which days you you visited an ATM in California. They will ask you for your doctor & dentist & they will subpoena dates of your in-person visits. They will subpoena your credit card statements & look for days which you used the credit card in CA. Etc.

Sooo.....

5. Keep a written diary/calendar of EVERY single day you are in CA and not in CA.

6. Keep ATM receipts/bank statements that show credit card use at retail & restaurants that supports your written diary/calendar listed in #5.

7. Get a local doctor & dentist & visit them for checkups.

8. Do not own any California real estate. If you do, you may be subject to CA non-resident income tax (form 540NR).

9. Move your stock brokerage accounts to a non-CA office.

There are some specific rules on the number of days you spend in CA. It must be 6 months less 1 day in CA. However, if you fly from, say, Denver to Hawaii with a connecting flight in Los Angeles, your time in the airport does not count for "days in CA." If, however, your connecting flight departs after midnight, then yes that counts as a day in CA.

In general, you need to build a case that you really, truly have left CA. Will doing everything right yet keeping a doctor in CA disqualify you? Probably not, but you're building a case, so do as many things as you can to show you're really not a California resident who just lives some of the year elsewhere.

Just owning a Condo in Las Vegas isn't sufficient. Remember: when the California State Franchise Tax Board looks at you, they can determine you are a resident, at which point the burden of proof shifts to you. They don't need to prove anything; you must prove they are wrong.

This is the stuff I've been looking for. Thanks.

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

This is the stuff I've been looking for. Thanks.

Add to the list: automobile maintenance. Make sure your oil changes & tire rotations & repairs are done out of state and keep receipts with dates & make sure the dates support your diary of days inside/outside the state.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by RationalExpectations

Add to the list: automobile maintenance. Make sure your oil changes & tire rotations & repairs are done out of state and keep receipts with dates & make sure the dates support your diary of days inside/outside the state.

That was a good list you mentioned in another post as well as information in this post. I'm curious. How long will it take before the FTB in California decides you really have moved out of state and lays off trying to collect money?

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

That was a good list you mentioned in another post as well as information in this post. I'm curious. How long will it take before the FTB in California decides you really have moved out of state and lays off trying to collect money?

Just now I googled "How to Break California Residency". The following seem pretty good.

Breaking California Residency | Realize

https://www.greenbacktaxservices.com...a-state-taxes/ <== while targeted at Expats, the list inside is the same

https://www.taxcrisisinstitute.com/b...nia-residency/ <== interesting reading

You decide the date you broke CA residency. The April 15 following the year you break residency, you file a regular CA tax return and specify the date you left CA for good. If you still have CA sourced income -- e.g. rental income - you'll file a CA Non-Resident tax return for that income for the balance of the year after you broke residency. If you have things such as employer stock options you exercise after breaking residency, or an employer bonus you receive after you break residency, those things are typically prorated between CA resident tax return and CA non-resident tax return.

CA may ask you for proof you truly broke residency; if they do, you write them back with all the information in the lists.

The way you pose the question "How long will it take before the FTB in California decides you really have moved out of state and lays off trying to collect money?" is interesting. In one sense, they stop bothering you after you've paid your income tax obligation. In another sense, if they determine you have not truly broken residency, then they never give up - unless & until (a) you pay them or (b) you convince them they made a mistake when they determined you hadn't broken residency.

[JGC97]

Thanks Makes a lot of sense. It may have seemed like a stupid question but being a lifelong resident, I don't know what it's like for others. Always good to learn, though.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

Off the top of my head.

- Notify CA DOJ that you will be moving firearms out of state. This won't remove records but it will mark your firearms as now "out of state" and can be legally transferred now in the state you will be moving to without any "CA nanny" headaches.
http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/pd...6NLIP0209.pdf?
...

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but if you take your guns out of CA (like I did with my dozens) and you tell CA DOJ, I'd bet you could not bring them back into CA (Especially the off-roster guns).

I took mine out of state, but I did not tell CA they were gone. That way I can still bring them back or sell them via FFL to someone in CA.

In my new state, there is NO ONE with whom to register your guns. No state agency exists. I can sell my gun to someone else over the trunk of my car in a 7-11 parking lot, and no one needs an ID, and there is ZERO waiting period. Smart sellers fill out a simple form indicating what gun was sold to whom and when just to CYA should they get burglarized and their (your old) gun is linked to a future crime. At some point, it will show last registered to you in CA.

[V8 Vega]

No way would I ever come back to this God forsaken hell hole.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

No way would I ever come back to this God forsaken hell hole.

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