California Residency Question. Am I a Part Time Resident or Full Time Resident of CA?

[User49462]

Prior to 2021, I was filing as non-resident of California. I plan to file as a CA resident in 2021 but not sure if I'm considered partial year resident or full year resident given that I spent 220 days in California and included in that 220 days I was in CA from the beginning of the year (i.e. 1/1/21- 4/17/21). I maintained residence outside of California the entire 2021 year and only officially moved in 2022. 

[NCperson]

@User49462 - you can only have one  permanent residence at a time.  It's a 'part year' resident., not a 'part time' resident. 

 Where are you registered to vote? where were your cars registered? what state provided your driver's liscence.  Where do you get your mail.  THAT is your permanent residence.  if the answers to those questions mean that you were a permanent resident of another state all year in 2021, despite the fact that you had reasons to be in CA from January until April, you are still a permanent resident of that other state,.  You'll file in that other state as well as a non-resident in CA.  

if you 'officially' moved in 2022, meaning you changed where you can vote, get your mail, register your cars, etc.  then from Jan 1 until you 'officially moved', you are a resident of that other state and then a CA resident from that date forward.  In 2022, you'd file as a part year resident in both the other state and CA.

In 2023, you would be a full year CA resident (assuming you don't move again!)'

Look at Section G and H on Page 5

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2020/2020-1031-publication.pdf

[User49462]

Car and driver's license is registered to Florida while mail is to FL but was forwarded to CA while I'm there. While I officially moved in 2022, the reason I'm contemplating filing as part year (or even full year resident) is because I spent 220 days in California (specifically 1/1/21 - 4/17/21 and 7/15/2 - 11/16/21).

Am I mistaken that because I've been in CA more than 180 days that I should be filing at the minimum part year resident?

[NCperson]

@User49462 - again, take the time to read the link and noted sections:

Look at Section G and H on Page 5

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2020/2020-1031-publication.pdf

CA does say you are considered a 'full year' resident, if you spent more than 9 months in the state; you did not. (which tells me you probably didn't read the material 😊)

How can you be a part time resident of CA, unless you are stating you kept moving your permanent residence back and forth between Florida and CA during the year.  Did you keep changing your drivers licenses? where you were eligible to vote, where you registered your cars? I suspect not. 

 please read the material!!!!

[User49462]

Yes I have seen and read the materials before you referenced it. And from what I understand from Section G, determining residency whether full year, part year or non-resident is not as black or white as evidenced in bold below.

The following list shows some of the factors you can use to help determine your residency status. Since your residence is usually the place where you have the closest ties, you should compare your ties to California with your ties elsewhere. In using these factors, it is the strength of your ties, not just the number of ties, that determines your residency. This is only a partial list of the factors to consider. No one factor is determinative. Consider all the facts of your particular situation to determine your residency status.

Additionally, I chatted with a FTB rep and he/she said to consider myself a part-year resident, which just mean this could be interpreted differently by different people.

This particular example (Section H Example 1) is the closest to my situation but is not exact. The difference here is I spent 220 days in CA in 2021 instead of just 6 weeks AND I officially moved to CA in 2022.  I've read online that the FTB don't look at a single year at a time to determine residency but the history leading up to establishing CA residency.

Example 1 – You are a business executive and reside in New York with your family. Several times each year you travel to other states for business purposes. Your average stay is one or two weeks and the entire time spent in California for any taxable year does not exceed six weeks. Your family usually remains in New York when you are traveling for business purposes. 

Determination: Under these circumstances, you are not a California resident because your stays in California are temporary or transitory in nature. As a nonresident, you are taxed only on your income from California sources, including your income for services performed in California.

[TomD8]

I think the key concept here is one of domicile.  You were domiciled in FL when you first went to CA.  Per CA FTB Publication 1031, page 10, a domicile change requires the following:

• Abandonment of your prior domicile.
• Physically moving to and residing in the new locality.
• Intent to remain in the new locality permanently or
indefinitely as demonstrated by your actions.

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2021/2021-1031-publication.pdf

If your domicile change did not occur until 2022, then for 2021 you were a non-resident of CA.   If you had lived in CA for 9 months or more in 2021, then you would file as a part-year resident - but you were there for only 220 days. 

Non-residents of CA are subject to CA income tax only on CA-source income.  Income earned by working in a CA location is CA-source income.