I paid CA taxes even though I wasn't in CA at all in 2024 but TT desktop is showing that I won't get a refund from CA

[trinko]

That would seem to be a bug.

[Vanessa A]

Why did you pay CA taxes?  Were they withheld by an employer?  Did you earn the money while physically present in CA?  

If you were NOT physically present in CA and you did NOT have CA source income, but for some reason had taxes withheld and paid to CA, you would need to enter your CA income as $0, and then enter the amount withheld.  This will allow you to claim a refund.

If you do have CA source income, even if you do not live in CA, you could have a tax liability to CA. 

[trinko]

I did.

The taxes were paid by my pension plan.  They were changed to Illinois, where I lived in 2024, mid year.

I entered them.

I said that I spent no time in California in 2024 and I didn't earn anything there either.

So where would I enter 0 CA income?

Thanks for any help.

[MonikaK1]

You would not enter any California income if you are a nonresident and received only retirement income from California. California does not impose tax on retirement income received by a nonresident after December 31, 1995.

What income is shown on your CA 540NR as subject to tax?

In your Personal Info / My Info section, check your answers to confirm that you identified yourself as a resident of Illinois for the entire year.

Complete the nonresident California return first in TurboTax. Answer all of the questions in the interview. 

@trinko

[trinko]

It shows all my dividend and interest income as taxable in CA even though I filled in the form that said my wife and I were domiciled in Illinois and weren't in CA at all in 2024

[AmyC]

Review your CA return. Continue to Here's the income that California handles differently. Continue on to Nonresident adjustments. It will ask about your income - one type at a time -and you can edit and select none of it is CA income.

[trinko]

So you're saying that I have to go to all income forms and add a subtraction equal to my total income of that type?

That doesn't seem to work. I put in the amount of our pension income as a subtraction and nothing changed.

It still shows I get a $0 CA refund when I should be seeing that I owe CA taxes.

Also why  in the world would I need to do that when I've specified that I wasn't a CA resident?  I didn't have to do it last year.

Why not just ask if I had CA taxable income instead since that's much less work?

If I update my federal income I'll have to go and manually adjust the CA values?

[trinko]

Thanks for the help so far by the way.

I don't see the screen you took a screenshot of; did you earn income on the Here's the income that CA handles differently page.

did I miss it?

[trinko]

Turns out it was my mistake.

I'd entered the CA taxes paid in the wrong box so it didn't think I'd paid any CA taxes.

I fixed that and it worked fine.

Thanks for the help.