Remote work for a CA company and State Tax on entire year income?

chenyang26 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:15:56 GMT

I worked for the same CA company in 2022, but in August I moved from WA to CA. I thought I'd only need to pay CA State Tax for the period after I've moved to here in August, but the CA Tax Department website says the following:

"As a part-year resident, you pay tax on:

All worldwide income received while a California resident
Income from California sources while you were a nonresident"

Does it mean I need to pay CA State Tax for my entire year's income? BTW, my company does not have an physical office in WA. Could someone help and advice? Thank you.

Re: Remote work for a CA company and State Tax on entire year income?

ErnieS0 — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 13:55:50 GMT

No. You only have to pay California tax for the period of time you were physically working in California.

Here is an example provided by the Franchise Tax Board:

You relocate to another state and continue to work remotely for a California employer. You periodically travel to and from California in order to perform services for your employer. You receive a W-2 from them. Do you need to file a California return and pay California income tax?

Answer: Yes.

If you are a part-year resident, you pay tax on:

All worldwide income received while you are a California resident
Income from California sources while you were a nonresident

During the nonresident portion of the year (or if you are a full-year nonresident), you will have California source income to the extent you physically performed services in California. You will need to file a California Nonresident or Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return (Form 540NR), to report the California-sourced portion of your compensation.

One way to calculate the portion of your income that is California sourced is to multiply your total amount of income for the year by a ratio of your total number of days performing services in California over your total number of days performing services worldwide.

CA Workdays / Total Workdays = % Ratio

% Ratio x Total Income = CA Sourced Income

See Scenario 1 in Part-year resident and nonresident

topic Remote work for a CA company and State Tax on entire year income? in State tax filing

Remote work for a CA company and State Tax on entire year income?

Re: Remote work for a CA company and State Tax on entire year income?