1729672
Hi,
I'm originally from CA and moved to WA 8 months ago and work in WA. I want to register to vote for the election however I don't currently have a WA drivers license( not able to get appoint because of Covid). If I register to vote in CA for the 2020 election. ( which means I'm saying I'm a resident of CA) Will I have to pay income taxes for CA?
My employer is an CA employer but has a registered Business in WA( meaning I dont pay income taxes). My paycheck says employer in CA though.
You'll need to sign in or create an account to connect with an expert.
https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/voter.html
If you changed your domicile (your permanent home) from CA to WA this year, then for 2020 you have to file a part-year resident CA tax return. Your income would be taxable by CA until the day you began living in your new domicile in WA. (You became a resident of WA - and a non-resident of CA - on the day you began living in your new domicile in WA).
Once you became a WA resident, only your earnings from work actually (physically) performed inside CA would be taxable by CA. Earnings from work done remotely from a WA location would not be taxable by CA. (There is an exception if you are paid as an independent contractor rather than a W-2 employee.)
Your state tax obligations are NOT determined by your voter registration. They are determined by your state of domicile and (with a few exceptions*) by the location where you actually work.
*A handful of states tax non-resident remote workers, but CA is not one of them as long as you are a W-2 employee.
@TomD8 Thanks for clarifying the CA tax issues for this question. I think the OP has voter registration issues unnecessarily tangled up with state tax requirements. Based on the WA voter registration form, a WA driver's license is not required to vote in WA. The user can register to vote in the state he now lives in and pay CA for the short time that he/she lived in CA in 2020 when it's time to prepare a 2020 return.
https://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/vrf_print_2020_english.pdf
Still have questions?
Questions are answered within a few hours on average.
Post a Question*Must create login to post
Ask questions and learn more about your taxes and finances.
srharron92
New Member
Jozef_G
Level 1
clough-casey
New Member
mary148
New Member
CQ60177
New Member