State tax witheld but never relocated

[arj32754]

Hi,

I work as a Software Engineer for an employer that's in California but due to pandemic, I never got a chance to relocate to California. In my W2, that I have received, I have CA's state tax withheld with box 15 written as CA. The employer's name and address is specified of Seattle which is the headquarters in the form and my address( employee address) is Dallas which is where I performed my job since I started working for the firm, 8 months back. 

Now, my question is since I never ever went to CA yet and performed my duties while in TX, would I be eligible to get tax refund of my CA taxes withheld ?

Thanks

[MaryK4 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can file a California Nonresident tax return and report zero California source income to get a refund of the withholding.  When determining your filing requirement and residency status for 2020 California personal income tax returns, you should consider circumstances related to COVID-19- since you never relocated to California you did not establish reisdency.