I need help with my State income tax. I worked in Ca but lived in Nevada for my job. Then moved back to Ca. I think I need help with y CA state.

[GeoffreyG]

Your state tax situation should be fairly simple, if your only two states are California and Nevada.  Since Nevada has no personal income tax system, you have no need to file any tax return there, and there is no state tax credit that you would need to then claim on your California state tax return.  In other words, because NV is a no tax state, there is no possibility of double-taxed income.  Instead, to make things as as easy as possible on yourself, please consider these tax facts.

1) If you live in NV and work in CA, then CA taxes all of your wage (job) income.

2) If you live in CA and work in NV, then CA taxes all of your wage (job) income.

3) If you live in CA and work in CA, then CA taxes all of your wage (job) income.

4) Only when you live in NV and work in NV does CA not tax your wage (job) income.

Therefore, unless you have taxable income other than W-2 wage income (such as stock sales, earned interest, dividends, rental property income, etc.), you can safely assume that CA will be taxing all of your job income.  One acceptable way to file your state tax return in that instance is to just file a single CA "part-year" resident tax return, and declare that all of your W-2 income is taxable to CA.  If you take that approach, this should then resolve your issue.

However, if there are other complications, if you would like further help, or you would just like to speak to a tax expert and have them talk you through the tax return filing process (including screen-sharing with your tax return), then please feel free to give us a call.  As a TurboTax Deluxe online customer, the call is free to you.  Here is a link that you can use to create a support ticket and reach us.  We are open 7 days a week during busy tax season.

https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/

Thank you for asking this question.

[pkothare8083]

Hello,

What about you work remotely for a company in California but are a resident of Nevada? I never work onsite or travel to California ever, in this case I am assuming I will have to pay no state income tax?

[RaifH]

Yes, you are correct. If you are working entirely remotely from Nevada, your income is considered sourced in Nevada and you will not have to pay any California income tax or file a state return unless your employer withheld state taxes. If they did withhold California taxes, you would file a nonresident return and allocate $0 of your income to California to receive a refund of the entire amount that was withheld. 

@pkothare8083

[1bernal]

Ok.  So I just moved to Nevada on 4/20/2022.  

I work remotely most of the time, but do need to travel to CA for in person work 3-4 days each month.  How does my state income tax work?  Is it all taxed by CA or just the days that I am physically in CA?

Thanks

Holly

[TomD8]

@1bernal --

Assuming you're a W2 employee and a Nevada resident, CA will tax only the income you earned from work actually (physically) performed within CA. 

[HeyyouLA]

What if I  lived in CA for 8 months and moved to NV for the remaining 4 months. Could I amend my State return and only claim the 8 months of income? Trying to avoid asking my employer to provide an amended W2 for 2021 and just deal with the state. 

[Hal_Al]

Q.  Could I amend my State return and only claim the 8 months of income? 

A. Yes, if you did not physically work in CA for those 4 months.

You should file as a part year resident. 

[NCperson]

@HeyyouLA - 

best to review this CA website: 

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/residency-status/part-year-and-nonresident.html#Filing-requirem...

suggest reviewing  the scenarios closely.  

[HeyyouLA]

Can I do that without amending my W2? 

[Hal_Al]

Q. Can I do that (amend my State return and only claim the 8 months of income) without getting a corrected W2?  

A.  Yes. But a corrected W-2 would be better.  I suggest you attach an explanation statement describing the circumstances. 

[TomD8]

Three points:

You can't correct a 2021 W-2 at this point because the withheld 2021 taxes have long been deposited with the state (by your employer).  Therefore the original W-2 is correct.

If you continued to work in CA after moving to NV, then all 12 months of your work income is taxable by CA.  CA can tax you as a non-resident for work actually performed within CA.

If you did not work in CA after your move, then you should file a part-year resident CA return on which you allocate to CA only your earnings as a CA resident.  On that return you should enter your W-2 as is.  If CA questions your return, you can explain what happened.

Your situation is not that unusual.  Employers make mistakes with withholding all the time when employees move from one state to another.

[olaffish]

What about the taxation of bonus payments and severance payments? I am a NV resident, work remotely from NV for my CA company, and travel to CA a few days each month for work. Does the ratio of days worked in CA apply to a one-time payment like an annual bonus?

What about severance? Assume I lived and worked in CA for this company for 4 yrs. Then I move to NV and work remotely from NV (occasional travel to CA for work) for this same company. Then they fire me after my 5th year with them (while I’m a NV resident). If in my 5th and last year with them I was only working in CA 10% of the days, is that my CA tax obligation on the severance? Or because the severance was after 5yrs of employment (4 in CA and 1 in NV) do I actually owe at least 80% CA ratio?

[TomD8]

California has an entire publication on this issue:

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/1100.html

[olaffish]

Yes I read that thoroughly but they don’t say anything explicitly about annual bonus (but I think I can figure that one out, just treat it like regular wage income).

The big question for me is severance. CA franchise tax board definitely don’t say anything specific about that. If you consider severance just in the year it was paid it’s more clear cut (treat it like regular wage income). But if you consider it like it was earned over 5 years of working at a company it gets messy. Does anyone know what to do?