Doing taxes for my daughter, who:
- is originally from California (where we - the parents - still reside)
- was a full-time student from Jan through May in Wisconsin
- traveled abroad in June
- worked and lived in Illinois in July and August
- worked and lived in Wisconsin from September to December
Her W2 shows that her employer paid both CA and IL taxes for the period she worked and lived in Illinois, and paid WI taxes (only) for the period she worked and lived in Wisconsin.
I'm getting lost on TurboTax's questions about her residency state. I'm leaning toward considering her a resident of Wisconsin (as she spent most of the year there), a non-resident of Illinois (as she worked only 2 months there) and non-resident of California (as this was her "primary domicile" while she was a student).
Am I far off the mark?
Since she lived/worked in Wisconsin and Illinois, she can file Part Year Resident returns for both of those states, declaring the income earned/tax paid there.
However, she also paid CA taxes, so can file a Non-Resident return there, (if she never lived in California in 2023), or file another Part-Year Resident return there if she did live there for a time.
Here's more info on filing a Part-Year Resident Return.
She can be a Part-Year Resident of several states, without being a Resident of any of them, although where you lived on December 31st can be considered your Resident State.
In that case she could elect Wisconsin as her Resident State, as you mentioned, and file Part-Year returns for the other states, although where you lived and worked the longest does not necessarily constitute residency.
Here's more about What is My State Residency Status?