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Moved from WA to CA for work. Do I need to change residency?

I recently graduated from school in WA, got offered a job back home (CA), and moved to CA 2 months ago.

I did not work in WA at all.

Do I need to change my drivers license and everything to establish CA residency for tax purposes?

I put my CA address on my job documents but everything else is WA (car license plate, drivers license plate, etc.)

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1 Reply
TomD8
Level 15

Moved from WA to CA for work. Do I need to change residency?

If you were in WA only temporarily for the purpose of attending school, and your domicile (your main, permanent home) during that time remained in CA, then for tax purposes you never became a WA resident.  Getting a WA drivers license or license plates wouldn't have changed that.  To become a WA resident, you would have had to actually move your main, permanent home to WA. 

Your residence for tax purposes is determined by the location of your domicile (your main, permanent home).  Your state tax obligations are determined by that, and by where you have earned income.  Your state of domicile can tax all your income, regardless of where you earned it.  Other states (if they have an income tax) can tax you as a non-resident on income you earned by working within their borders.  WA, of course, has no income tax.

In other words, your state of residence for tax purposes is not determined by your drivers license or your car's license plates.  If a person moves to CA from another state, they become a CA resident on the day they begin living in their new CA home, not on the day they get their CA DL or license plates. (Some people wait weeks or even months to do that.)   That said, California's rule is that a person must obtain a CA drivers license within 10 days of becoming a CA resident, and must register their vehicle within 20 days of becoming a CA resident.

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.
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