California Residency

[l18david]

Can the following 2019 Publication for California Residency be used for 2020? Also share the list to others for reference.

2019 Publication 1031 Guidelines for Determining Resident Status

The underlying theory of residency is that you are a resident of the place where you have the closest
connections.
The following list shows some of the factors you can use to help determine your residency status. Since your
residence is usually the place where you have the closest ties, you should compare your ties to California with your ties elsewhere. In using these factors, it is the strength of your ties, not just the number of ties, that determines your residency. This is only a partial list of the factors to consider. No one factor is determinative. Consider all the facts of your particular situation to determine your residency status.
Factors to consider are as follows:
• Amount of time you spend in California versus amount
of time you spend outside California.

• Location of your spouse/RDP and children.
• Location of your principal residence.
• State that issued your driver’s license.
• State where your vehicles are registered.
• State where you maintain your professional licenses.
• State where you are registered to vote.
• Location of the banks where you maintain accounts.
• The origination point of your financial transactions.
• Location of your medical professionals and other healthcare providers (doctors, dentists etc.), accountants, and attorneys.

• Location of your social ties, such as your place of worship, professional associations, or social and
country clubs of which you are a member.
• Location of your real property and investments.
• Permanence of your work assignments in California.

Thanks!

[ThomasM125 · Accepted solution]

Yes, these are all factors in determining your residency in California, or for any state for that matter.  A good rule of thumb is your resident state is the state you intend to return to after you are away temporarily. 

[jpaulskier]

Part time California or Nevada resident?

Hello, I have read all your info about "domicile" and I understand the concept. I would say I am in transition. When you refer to "the strength of your ties" this seems to be a grey area. Since I have retired from my California employer, my "ties" to California are disappearing quickly. Also, since starting my job in Nevada, in conjunction with living there and paying rent there, my "ties" to Nevada are materializing just as quickly. We have spent 66% of our time in Nevada including weekends and some holidays. Major holidays are now spent in Arizona with family. I consider the strength of these family "ties" to be overriding factor, not my California drivers license. I realize that my California sourced pension will probably be taxed for the whole year. My Nevada income and residence ties are growing substantially stronger during 2021 and California ties are going away. Have I made enough of a case for part time residence in either state?

Thank you for your consideration.

1. Own a home in California

2. Family lives in Arizona where we visit on weekends and major holidays.

3. Worked in Nevada from 1/1/21 to 8/31/2021 driving a truck.

4. Did not work in California in 2021.

5. Receive a pension from California.

6. Lived in Nevada from 1/1/21 to 8/31/2021 in an RV park, paying rent and utilities.

7. Retired from State of California on 11/28/2020.

8. Spouse is with me and does not work.

9. Still have a California drivers license and car registration.

[ErnieS0]

I agree you are in a grey area @jpaulskier with things doing either way. 

You don't provide much detail about "family" but since your wife is with you and you only visit family on weekends and holidays, Arizona would not be your residency – either full or part-time.

I would say you are a resident of California because you own a home there and have not taken steps to establish permanent residency in another state (you mention still having a CA driver's license for example).

California says a resident is someone "domiciled in California, but outside California for a temporary or transitory purpose."

California cites this as an example of a California resident:

Until September 2020, you were a resident of California. At that time, you declared yourself to be a resident of Nevada, where you have a summer home. You continue to spend six or seven months each year at your home in California, which you have retained. You spend only three to four months in Nevada and the rest of the time traveling in other states or countries. You transferred your bank accounts to Nevada. However, you continue to maintain your social club and business connections in California.

See 2020 Publication 1031

[jpaulskier]

To Ernie,

  Please allow me to give you more pertinent info about our family. My wife & I have 2 sons and 5 grandchildren that live in Phoenix, Az. That is a 4 1/2 hr drive from Southern Nevada, (Las Vegas, Nv) which is where my wife and I lived & I worked for 253 days in 2021. To put that in perspective, from my house in California to my sons house is an 11 hr drive. To your other point, I could only visit my family in Arizona on weekends & holidays because I was working in Las Vegas, full time, for about 8 1/2 months. This doesn’t suggest that I am trying to show residency in Arizona, but rather that I spent the majority of my time living & working in Las Vegas to be closer to family in Arizona.

    As I have mentioned previously and this is important; I have retired from California & I am now in TRANSITION! I haven’t decided where we will end up living, but your example of a California resident that lives in California for 6 or 7 months during the year & 3 or 4 months in Nevada is exactly backwards from my situation. Also, I did not spend the rest of the time traveling. We spent the preponderance of our time in Las Vegas, while I worked and we visited our closest family ties in Arizona, as often as we could when I wasn’t working.
I don’t know if you have ever retired but there are important decisions that have to made like where to buy the next home and my first step was to move to Las Vegas in our RV, to see how we like living and working there. These decisions and plans to sell a house are not made overnight.
    I returned to my house in California for a total of 112 days. That’s less than 4 months, just to check on the house. My only “ties” to California now are just a “house” & a drivers license. I will sell the house in California at some point, when I find a new place to move. Do I return to California from Nevada? Yes, but equally as important is that I plan to return to Nevada each time I go to California. My strongest ties now are spending 8 1/2 months living & working in Las Vegas and being closer to our family & warmer weather. I am not staying in Nevada for “transitory purposes” but rather to find a new place to relocate for my retirement. Do you understand? 
Next is the fact that I answered all of the California state residency questions in TurboTax honestly and accurately and the TurboTax software has shown me as a part time resident of both California & Nevada and that NONE of the wages that I earned in Nevada are taxable by the state of California. Just my retirement pension should be the only taxable income. 
What happened to the rule from California that says “the amount of time you are in California compared to being in another state?” and the “strength of the ties” else where?

I thank you for your input.

[jpaulskier]

P.S. After answering all the California state residency questions & completing my taxes, TurboTax software indicates that I have a very low chance of being audited. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

 Finally, I would like to impress upon you a simple concept; that it is quite common for retired people to actually have two residences in two different states. The problem that I have experienced is that neither Nevada nor California will allow a person to have a valid drivers license in both states simultaneously. This begs the question: Can I be considered a resident of Nevada if I spend most of my time there and I have a California driver’s license? The driver’s license should not be the determining factor.

 Thank you!

[DianeW777]

Yes, you can be considered a resident of Nevada (NV) based on your criteria even if you have a California (CA) drivers license. Although the drivers license is one item on the list, it is not used as a full determination component.  

The following information from the California (CA) Franchise Tax Board shows the following:

California (CA)  Am I a resident?

You’re a resident if either apply:

• Present in California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose
• Domiciled in California, but outside California for a temporary or transitory purpose

There are more factors for determining residency. Visit Guidelines for Determining Resident Status (FTB Publication 1031) for more details (page 5).

As @ErnieS0 indicated in the example they are using a much longer period of time in CA than you spend in that state.