What should CA employer withhold with me as a nonresident?

[tanda]

I live in WA state but will be working for a company based in CA. I’ll mainly be working remotely but may hop down to their office from time to time. It seems like I will need to record my time in CA and file a 540NR or some other nonresident form (?). I’m not sure if my employer should just go ahead and withhold all CA taxes and I get the return according to the nonresident form, or if there’s some better way I/they should be managing this? Appreciate advice!

[Hal_Al]

 Yes, you need to pay CA tax on the income you received for the days you actually worked in CA.  So, you should probably file a non resident return. See http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/28/pf/taxes/business-traveler-tax-threat/  Since you live in a state without an income tax (WA), it’s more likely you should file in the work state. You can't use the "it all comes out even" rationale for not filing.

Your employer is not required to withhold for CA, but may be willing to do so.  Since the amount you owe will probably be small, you may want to forego withholding.