Should I file CA tax return if I left CA in 2022 but my spouse (Housewife/no income) lived in CA until Jan 2023? (There was no income source from CA during 2023.)

[keisuke5011]

I left CA in Nov 2022.
My wife lived in CA until Jan 2023.

She had no income during 2023.
I worked full time job in foreign country in 2023. We don't have any other source of income.

Currently, I am preparing 1040 joint return and found that my wife was a partial resident of CA in 2023. (but again no income).

In this case, should we file CA return? ($0 tax $0 refund $0 credit in CA)

[AmyC]

Probably, including income and tax. The problem is CA is a community property state which means your spouse automatically earned half of your income while living there. Since you moved in Nov, I have to question if she had already started to establish a new residency, new license, changed voting, new life and was just finishing things up in CA for the move.

If she was still a resident of CA, you will need to file a return. For the filing status, we have to look at these issues:

California is a community property state. If one spouse is a resident of California and the other is a nonresident, then the California:

• Resident may be required to report income earned outside of California.
• Nonresident may be required to report income earned by the resident spouse.

As a part-year resident, you pay tax on:

• All worldwide income received while a California resident
• Income from California sources while you were a nonresident

If you file a joint return for federal purposes, you may file separately for California if either spouse was one of the following:

• An active member of the United States armed forces or any auxiliary military branch during the year
• A nonresident for the entire year and had no income from California sources during the year

[keisuke5011]

I'm a little bit confused.

• Are required to file a federal return: Yes (but my wife who lived in CA only for one week in 2023 did not have any income. I as a non-resident who lived abroad did not have any income soured in CA.)
• Receive income from a source in California:  No (Neither of us)
• Have income above a certain amount:  No (Neither of us)

under the situation, I do not think I need to file the return. Am I right?

(even if we lived in CA, we were not required to file.)

[ThomasM125]

Since your spouse lived there for a portion of the year she would be taxed on her worldwide income during the period of her residency. Even though she doesn't work, half of your income belongs to her under the community property rules, as mentioned by  @AmyC . If her income is less than $43,127 (assuming no dependents) for the time she lived there, then she wouldn't have to file a tax return, per the schedule on this California Tax Board publication: Do I need to file in CA?

Also, there may be an issue with you still being a California resident. If you are away temporarily, meaning you plan on returning to California when you are done working out of the country, then you may still be considered a California resident, especially if you own a home there.

[keisuke5011]

So confuse. (based on my previous post already mentioned our situation)

- I was a non-resident in CA for the entire year.

- My spouse lived only one week in CA and then left CA becoming non-resident for the rest of the year.

- We did not own any property anywhere in the world including CA.

- One week of my worldwide income did not exceed the minimum tax requirement of CA.

Even though we did not need to file CA tax return, we have already filed it just because even tax experts could not understand it well.  .

I hope someone who is really an expert to explain clearly that we did not need to file the tax return so that other people in the similar situation do not need unnecessary tax return in the future. 

[AmyC]

If you have no CA connection left, no license, no home, nothing related to CA and no intention to return, then you would not need to file any further CA returns. 

Many people keep their state license with plans to return, even when working out of the country. This requires a state return. 

Since you have relinquished everything related to CA with no intention to return, you would not have a CA return.

[HM Michael Michelle]

Word of Mouth: You file taxes as u.s. citizens, each year. Also as foreign income, Yes taxes are required to file at home usa. As a resident alien attachments to usa income two ways taxes are required to file. sides when benefits dishes, encouraged to file taxes irs articles international-individual-tax-matters#filing#homemaker #EmployerIdentificationNumber #businessidentifiercode

[SusanY1]

Since your wife had no income in California, you can skip filing a California return this year even though she lived there part of the year.  Had she earned any income, you would need to likely file as a part-year resident, but in your case a return isn't required.  
@keisuke5011