Do I Have to Pay California Income Tax If I’m Moving?
Most people don’t want to pay California taxes. They end up contacting me because they are going to move to Florid, Texas or Nevada. I warn them to make sure they actually decided to relocate, move their family, move their house, move their driver’s license, move their car registration. If they’re actually moving and intend to reside in another state, they will not be subjected to California income tax. California has what’s called a residency tax on it. They’re going to go back and determine whether or not you were a resident of the state of California and therefore subjected to taxes. California looks at how much time did you actually spend in the state? Where did you go to the grocery store? Where is your SG&E bill? Where’s your electric bill? Where did you fly in and out of? What sort of professionals did you hire? Did you hire California CPAs and attorneys, doctors and psychologists? Or did you have a doctor and a psychologist and an attorney and an accountant in Florida? You need to make sure that the residency items they are going to look at is really going to show where you were residing during the period of time with an audit. It’s not just enough to say you’re going to move to another state. You really do need to actually move and become a part of that state.
Do I have to pay California income tax if I live out of state?
As a nonresident living outside California, you still need to pay California income tax if you earn income from California sources. This includes income from services performed in California, rental property, or business operations within the state.
