If we understand you correctly, you are a Minnesota resident, living and working in Minnesota, for a company with headquarters in California, correct?
If that is so, then it actually doesn't matter where your employer may be
based. It could be California, New York, or even Tokyo Japan. As an
individual, you don't have to file a tax return or pay taxes in your
employer's home state (or country), or in the state where they may
happen to have a payroll office (hence the address on your W-2).
Really, all you need to do is report and
pay taxes on what you earn from your employment in the state(s) where you actually live and
where you work. In your case this will just be Minnesota. A California return is not required. Don't be concerned, for income tax filing purposes, what the employer's address on your W-2 indicates.
In
other words, an employer's corporate address that is different from
the state(s) in which you live and work, has no actual meaning or effect
on how you file your personal income tax return. Thus, you don't need
to input an answer in TurboTax that you made money in any another state,
simply because of your employer's address. That's not what it means to have or earn income in more than one state (although we can certainly understand and
appreciate the confusion if you haven't faced this issue before).
Let's work through another example for clarity. Say that Mary lives and work in Kansas, but her employer is
headquartered in North Carolina. Furthermore they have a payroll office
in Minnesota that issues her a weekly paycheck and mails her a W-2 at the
the end of the year. In this situation, she only has to file a tax
return and pay taxes in Kansas. She can and does ignore North Carolina and
Minnesota for tax reporting purposes. Hopefully, that logic and this
explanation will help to clarify things.
On the other hand, if you meant in your question that you have or maintain a home in Minnesota, but that you took a job (physically) in California and therefore actually worked in Califorina, then the above answer will differ. In this instance you would have a multi-state income issue, pay taxes in two states, and file for a nonresident state tax credit on the income that is taxed by both states. We would be glad to explain that process further for you, upon request. Please just let us know.
In conclusion, as you can see, it makes a big difference for income tax reporting where you are working, but not where your employer is located.
Thank you for asking this important question.
