It depends but you will only claim CA as your state of residence if you changed your permanent state of residence to CA form your former state of residency. Just being stationed in CA will not change your state of residence to CA (although changing your voters registration may constitute a change of residence). However, if you consider another state of residence as your permanent state of residency or you are covered under MSRRA, then you will not need to file any CA state income tax return.
Just make sure that you are letting the TurboTax
system know that your spouse is on active military duty and that you are
inputting his state of legal residency (SLR) as his resident state. His SLR is usually his home of record – the state
recorded by the military as his home when your spouse joined the military
(regardless of where he is stationed).
For
example if his SLR is FL but he is stationed in CA, then he will use FL as
his resident state in TurboTax.
If necessary , you may need to edit your personal
information under the Personal Info tab (for TurboTax Online sign-in,
click Here) to let the TurboTax system know that you are in the
U.S. Armed Forces.
You
will need to make sure that you select yes -"I am a member or former
member of the U.S. Armed Forces (active, reserve or National Guard)".
Also
answer "no" to "I lived in another state" (screenshot).
Even though you may have lived in a different state, this will not apply if
your spouse is on active military service in a state other than your home of
record state.
Additionally,
if your spouse earned any income outside their military pay in a state
that is not your state of record, your spouse will need to file a
nonresident state income tax return to recognize this nonmilitary income.
Otherwise you will only have a resident state income tax return for your
home of record, the state where you lived when you joined the military.
If you are covered under MSRRA, you will only file taxes in your spouse's state
of legal residency (SLR).
However,
if you do not qualifies under the MSRRA and you are claiming a non-CA state as
your state of residence, then you can still file jointly for federal income tax
but will need to file married filing separately for state taxes.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3301995
https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3302300
