If I live in Texas and work remotely for a company in California, do I need to pay taxes in California? Box 15 on my w2 says TX.

[JulieCo]

No, if you are performing the work in Texas and you live in Texas, then you are not liable for California taxes.  The only situation in that scenario where you would need to file is if CA taxes were withheld from your check while you were working in Texas.  

Here are some more descriptive explanations of your scenario:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/4776808

[mdunagan86]

Is this also the same as living in FL and working remotely with a company in CA?

[JulieCo]

Yes, if you are performing the work in FL, then you do not need to file a CA return for the income you earned working in FL.  What matters is where you earned the income, not where your employer is located.

[rob1]

I thought Cali has pretty strict Telecommuter rules... <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.palmspringstaxandtrustlawyers.com/nonresidents-working-remotely-for-california-businesse...>


Note, this entire analysis assumes the nonresident is an employee of a California firm.  If the nonresident is an independent contractor, different rules applies.  Specifically, even if the independent contractor never set foot in California, if he is performing services for a California customer, he is likely “doing business in California,” which falls under a totally different set of stringent, complex rules, and which usually result in a tax liability of some sort.  This problem also applies to out-of-state entities that perform services to California customers.  See “Internet-Based Companies and ‘Doing Business’ in California: Be Careful What Your Website Says About You,” for an overview of those rules.

[Zingirl7]

Thank you.  I think I'm ok not filing since I'm not performing a service to CA customers. I'm just doing bookkeeping.

[Zingirl7]

Thank you!

[GLEN60]

Goldman took out cCA taxes as she was employed by their LA office for a summer internship.

Entire amount of work was performed in Texas remotely.

Using TURBOTAX, she still does NOT get all of her CA state taxes paid refunded!

We have to file a CA state tax return since Goldman took taxes out. (correct?)

How can she get it all back or can she?

[TomD8]

Assuming the taxpayer's income from CA consisted solely of W2 wages or salary, and the taxpayer did not live in or physically work in CA, her remote income is not taxable by CA.

To obtain a refund of the withheld CA taxes, the taxpayer must file a non-resident CA tax return on which she allocates zero income to CA.

[GLEN60]

Box 15 of the W2 says CA.

Checked 'not lived there' and nonresident, ...

Using CA state return for I paid for in TurboTax, she gets back $2530 of the $3328. she paid. Still paying $800.

Does this sound correct?

[TomD8]

@GLEN60 --

If she never lived in or physically worked in CA, and ALL her income from CA consisted of W2 wages or salary, then she should owe no taxes to CA.  Be sure you allocated no income to CA when you did her CA tax return. 

[GLEN60]

I here you, and I did that in Turbo Tax CA, but it still does not give her a full refund of CA tax withheld .

[TomD8]

Unfortunately no one here can see your CA tax return, but it must be showing some CA taxable income.  I would suggest reviewing the CA Form 540NR line by line to see if you can find the error.  If her CA 540NR shows zero CA taxable income (line 35), she should receive a full refund of her withheld CA taxes.

[GLEN60]

That would be nice, but the TurboTax SW on our PC  said different. Or the SW is wrong.

Wish there was a way to verify, but it showed nonresident status all the way.

Submitted it today and she had to still pay CA $800. 

[halzlindz]

Hello,

I am currently working in CA as a non resident, but next month I will be moving to TX. I am trying to stay on with my company remotely from TX. I am/ and will remain a TX resident. How do taxes work for myself and my company? 

Texas doesn't have state taxes, so do I pay CA taxes since I work for a CA based company or am I exempt?

Since TX has no state taxes, is my company responsible for paying CA taxes still? Or do they get off on not paying state taxes since TX has none?