Taxes: Staying at CA and telecommuting for a job in WA (apartment, attorney)

[jarahatake]

Hi all,

Please consider this basic tax question.
I work for a company in seattle, WA.
I moved to CA in April 2012 while working-from-home for my job in WA.

Do I have to pay state tax in CA for year 2012? if yes, is it for the full year of 2012 or just the 8 months that I stayed in CA?

Thanks in advance.

[butercup]

I am in no way a professional but I just read this this morning because our family is moving to CA from FL (which has no income tax but sucks to live in) in April and we were wondering exactly when we will become residents. It appears to be April to me - this is cut and pasted from a CA official state publication that I of course don't have open still but did copy directly to a doc so I'd have it to refer to...

The underlying theory of residency is that you are
a resident of the place where you have the closest
connections .
The following list shows some of the factors you can
use to help determine your residency status . Since your
residence is usually the place where you have the closest
ties, you should compare your ties to California with your
ties elsewhere . In using these factors, it is the strength of
your ties, not just the number of ties, that determines your
residency .
Factors to consider are as follows:
• Amount of time you spend in California versus amount
of time you spend outside California .
• Location of your spouse/RDP and children .
• Location of your principal residence .
• State that issued your driver’s license .
• State where your vehicles are registered .
• State in which you maintain your professional licenses .
• State in which you are registered to vote .
• Location of the banks where you maintain accounts .
• The origination point of your financial transactions .
• Location of your medical professionals and other
healthcare providers (doctors, dentists etc .),
accountants, and attorney
• Location of your social ties, such as your place of
worship, professional associations, or social and
country clubs of which you are a member .
• Location of your real property and investments .
• Permanence of your work assignments in California

Example 1 – You are a business executive and reside in
NewYork with your family . Several times each year you
travel to other states for business purposes . Your average
stay is one or two weeks and the entire time spent in
California for any taxable year does not exceed six
weeks . Your family usually remains in NewYork when you
are traveling for business purposes .
Determination: Under these circumstances, you are not
a California resident because your stays in California are
temporary or transitory in nature . As a nonresident, you
are taxed only on your income from California sources,
including your income for services performed in California .
Example – In December 2009, you moved to California
on an indefinite job assignment . You rented an apartment
in California and continued to live in the apartment . You
retained your home and bank account in Illinois until April
2010, at which time you sold your home and transferred
your bank account to California .FTB Pub . 1031  2010  Page 5
Determination: Your assignment in California was for an
indefinite period; therefore, your stay in California was
not of a temporary or transitory nature . Although you kept
ties in Illinois until April 2010, you became a California
resident upon entering the state in December 2009 . As a
resident, you are taxed on your income from all sourc

[marcopolo666]

It sounds like you live in CA, and thus are a CA resident. I *believe* that you need to file the 540NR form, because you became a resident during the year (so the part of your income before you moved to CA won't be taxed).

Read about it on this page : https://ftb.ca.gov/forms/2012/540nr_...Forms_540nrTOC

PS : if your company (or you) didn't pay CA estimated taxes, you are probably in for a BIG penalty on the amount of taxes that you owe.

[zitsky]

For this kind of advice you really should consider consulting someone whose expertise is in tax law. You might get some interesting answers on a public forum, but it's not the best way to get this type of info.