The address on 1099 is in a different state than the residence

[hachii]

- A person lived in the State of New Jersey for the whole year in 2025;

- He used his relative's address in California for all his investment accounts including IRA in 2025;

- He made a distribution from this traditional IRA account  and converted to the Roth-IRA contribution in 2025;

- The 1099-R for the IRA distribution he received reports a State of California IRA distribution;

- TurboTax calculation shows that he does not owe any tax to California in 2025, nor will he get a refund from CA.

In the above scenario, is he required to file the California tax return for 2025?

[ReneV4 · Accepted solution]

No. You are not likely required to file a California tax return because you were a full-year resident of New Jersey and did not perform any work in CA. Even though the address on the Form 1099-R shows CA, the Traditional IRA distribution and conversion is not considered California-source income.

Under Federal law, states may not impose income tax on any retirement income of an individual who is not a resident of that state. California follows this and only taxes retirement distributions for people who are CA residents at the time of withdrawal. 

Since you would generally only file a CA non-resident return for CA-sourced income, or if you had CA tax withheld (Check Box 14 on your 1099-R), you would not need to file a non-resident return.

If CA does send you a notice since the 1099-R had a CA address, you would simply mail them a copy of your NJ resident return to prove you lived in a different state.