State taxes from couples working from another state

[Mj94]

Me and My wife live in Washington for full year. Husband (me) works for organization in Washington - so no state taxes.  Wife has a work state in California but stays in Washington. Never will set a foot in California for entire year. Her employer does California tax witholding where as domicile is Washigton.

Question : For Federal taxes - State does not matter- I believe we can file as Married filing jointly - no issues there , right?

Question - Does wife really owe any California Taxes since Domicile is Washington and we can get a full refund back ?
or If she owes - Can we still file as California Married with mine as zero income and wife income in California or would my entire income in Washington get into account if filing as Married for California ?

[Vanessa A]

Question : For Federal taxes - State does not matter- I believe we can file as Married filing jointly - no issues there , right?  Yes. you can file joint for federal

Question - Does wife really owe any California Taxes since Domicile is Washington and we can get a full refund back ?  No, if she never steps foot in CA, she does not owe taxes in CA. 

Can we still file as California Married with mine as zero income and wife income in California or would my entire income in Washington get into account if filing as Married for California ? Yes, you can file that way to get a refund of taxes withheld for CA.  She will also need to update with her employer her actual address since she does not go to CA as they shouldn't be withholding any state taxes. 

[Mj94]

Thank you Vanessa. 

Every organization has 2 addresses - one is Work address and other is home address. 

While the home address is Washington , the work Address is of California. The organization is not ready to change work address as we would have to relocate there but next financial year. So no step inside in California this year.  

Questiion
So how to get taxes back from CA- file a non resident CA return. What would be there in return that will refund as back. The W2 I believe carry domicile address -would that trigger California Govt to refund taxes paid?

[ErnieS0]

The employer address on the W-2 does not affect your taxes. That’s address of the department sending out the W-2.

They will not change the employer work address to be your home address.

You can file a nonresident return and report $0 income. If you mail your return you can explain your situation and why your return does not match your W-2.

[Mj94]

Hi @ErnieS0 and @Vanessa A 
I am filling the california return. As per above conversation - it seemed to fill "Zero" income for california if  we never set foot inside california. 

But turbo tax suggestion while filling says with example says something different. If Nolan was in Oregon full year- then why would he fill 60k for california?

This seems contradictory

From turbo tax software : 
"

How much of my wages did I earn in California?

Since you're filing a nonresident return for California, you should only enter wages that you earned while working in California. Don't include any wages that were earned in your resident state.

Example: Nolan lived in Oregon all year. He worked at a job in Oregon for 6 months, and he worked at a job in California for 6 months. He received a W-2 for his job in Oregon that shows he earned $40,000 in wages. Also, he received a W-2 for his job in California that shows he earned $60,000 in wages. Nolan should only report the $60,000 from his California W-2 on his California nonresident return."