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The Issue

With the rise of ecommerce, advanced telecommunications, and the new prevalence of remote work due to the COVID pandemic, more and more people are choosing the option of living in one state while working for an employer in another, sometimes without ever setting foot at the employer’s place of business. The possibilities for reducing state income taxes through this scenario haven’t been lost on founders, hi-tech C-suite, and other key employees in California. By moving across state borders and working for a California business (or even running it) through Zoom and other telecommunications, they become nonresidents, potentially free of California’s high income tax rates, while still being able to participate in California’s thriving economy.

Of course, this situation isn’t lost on California’s tax enforcement agencies either. Because remote work can attract audit scrutiny, nonresidents working for California firms need to be careful and understand the tax rules governing remote work, especially when it comes to highly compensated former residents.

California Tax Rules For Remote Employees: The Basics

Generally, if you work in California, whether you’re a resident or not, you have to pay income taxes on the wages you earn for those services. That’s due to the “source rule”: California taxes all taxable income with a source in California regardless of the taxpayer’s residency. In other words, nonresidents pay California income taxes on taxable California-source income. With respect to employees, the source of income from services compensated by W-2 wages is the location where the services are performed, not the location of the employer. This is true even if you are a nonresident, even if you don’t work out of a California branch or office, and even if the wages are paid to you outside of California and booked as payments to a nonresident worker. Continue reading

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Temporary Work in CaliforniaWhat’s Happening?

The digital economy has allowed increasing numbers of nonresidents to work remotely for California firms without becoming California residents, and even without paying California income taxes, in some cases. At the same time, more and more nonresidents find themselves being offered lucrative temporary employment in California. This is particularly true for software developers or other information technology and e-commerce specialists who are in high demand by California’s thriving internet firms to complete a particular project. But it’s also true for medical professionals, management strategists, actors, professional athletes, artists, corporate trainers, even part-time teachers in a specialty field. Top executives tasked with setting up a new branch for their business in the state may also find themselves in this situation.

What all these professionals have in common is project work. The employment in California is temporary in that it involves completing a particular project or term of service. It isn’t permanent or open-ended. Of course, temporary is a relative term. Some projects may only last a few months; others may require more than a year to complete. The issue confronting nonresidents working temporarily in California is whether they will be taxed only on their California-source income or become a resident in the eyes of California’s tax enforcement authority, the Franchise Tax Board, with the result that all their taxable income from any source may be subject to California taxation. To control that, nonresidents working in California should have a plan.

Why It Matters?

At first blush, it might not seem to matter much whether a nonresident working on a temporary basis in California is deemed a resident or not. The W-2 wages (for employees) or 1099 payments (for independent contractors) received while working on a project in California are usually taxable by California regardless of residency status. Where W-2 salary is involved, it’s all but inescapable because the work is performed in California, and California imposes an income tax on compensation for work discharged while physically present in the state. In the case of 1099 income, if the work is in California, that usually means the customer is also located in the state (the FTB uses “where the benefit is received” for sourcing independent contractor revenue). Accordingly, if all the income the worker receives during that tax year comes from the project, it won’t usually make any difference what his residency status is. See this article on the sourcing of W-2 compensation vs. independent contractor payments under California law.

However, if the taxpayer has other sources of income, it can make a big difference. California only taxes nonresidents on income sourced to California. But it imposes an income tax on residents with respect to all their income, from whatever source.  And the top rate is 13.3% (14.4% if the income is W-2 sourced to California). Continue reading

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What’s Happening

 A recent poll of adult California residents shows the vast majority are satisfied with the state, but about 40% are considering leaving. Only 18% of those say they are considering a move “very seriously.”

The major reason given for a possible move is economic: over 60% say living expenses are motivating their planning.

Continue reading

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INGs struck down in California

The Issue

After years of wrangling with the issue, California has just enacted legislation to eliminate a state income tax savings strategy some California residents have pursued by establishing a non-grantor gift trust (ING). These trusts are often called WINGs, DINGs, and NINGS, a reference to the three states that first marketed them: Wyoming, Delaware, and Nevada. INGs can offer significant federal estate planning advantages. But they also allow residents of states with high income-tax rates, like California, to avoid paying state taxes on undistributed non-California-source income. The income can then grow free of state income taxes in the trust and be distributed later to the taxpayer (presumably after moving to a state with lower income taxes), or to their beneficiaries. But the new legislation has nullified the state tax benefits for California residents, leaving taxpayers who pursued the ING strategy in the lurch. Continue reading

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moving to california tax consequencesThe Case

A recent case from California’s Office of Tax Appeals brings some clarity to how strictly  California dates a change of residency for income tax purposes when a nonresident claims to have moved to California shortly after a liquidity event. The case, Appeal of Housman, OTA Case No. 18010200 (November 2022), in some ways is the flipside of Appeal of J. Bracamonte, a case involving a resident who claimed to move to another state shortly after a stock sale. Bracamonte is discussed in detail in this article. Both cases went badly for the taxpayers, and for many of the same reasons: failure to plan, failure to keep residency related records, establishing or retaining superior living accommodations in California, spending more time in the state than in their home jurisdiction during the year at issue.

Overview: The Importance of Timing

As discussed in the Bracamonte article, changing residency from California is binary: it happens on a specific date. Indeed, the date has to be reported on Schedule CA of the 540NR “part-year” return, which exiting taxpayers, with few exceptions, have to file for the year they move. The converse is also true for nonresidents moving to California. Schedule CA of the part-year return requires those taxpayers to disclose the date they become California residents. Continue reading

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California flag surveillanceThe Issue

​If you’re in the habit of reviewing California residency cases (and only a tax attorney specializing in the field or a masochist would be), you will occasionally come upon a reference to the Franchise Tax Board’s “Integrated Nonfiler Compliance” system, sometimes called the INC program. The court opinion will mention that the audit was initiated under INC and move on from there. This article discusses how this somewhat secretive program works, and how it affects a nonresident’s risk of a California residency audit. Understanding INC is central to residency planning, particularly for former residents who no longer file tax returns in the state.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that nonresidents are often in control of the actions required to minimize that risk. The bad news is it usually takes a concerted, systematic effort to avoid the INC system. A single mistake can earn you a residency audit.

Which Nonresidents Does INC Target?

The INC system only targets a certain subset of nonresidents. Specifically, as the somewhat sinister name indicates, it focuses on nonfilers. For nonresidents who in fact file a nonresident California tax return (Form 540NR), the FTB doesn’t need INC to decide whether to audit for residency or not. That’s because a 540NR delivers most of the relevant information to the FTB on a silver platter. The 540NR requires a nonresident to disclose the number of days spent in California during the tax year, ownership of California residential property (directly or indirectly through an entity or trust), and perhaps most importantly the nonresident’s global income. That’s usually more than enough material for the FTB to decide whether to pursue a residency audit, or at least to provide grounds for investigating the taxpayer further by reviewing available databases (including Google and Zillow) before deciding to go forward. Continue reading

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4600 notice article art

The Issue

​Nonresidents who own vacation homes, business interests, financial accounts, or have other significant contacts in California can receive a notice from the Franchise Tax Board, California’s tax enforcement agency, demanding they file a tax return or explain why they aren’t required to. The official notice number is 4600 (you can find the designation on the lower left bottom of the Notice). Hence the name, “4600 Notice.” It’s also called a “Request for Tax Return,” since the verbiage has appeared in bold on the Notice since about 2017. If a nonresident owns a second home or uses some other address in California, the Notice is often mailed there (which can be a problem if it’s an unoccupied vacation home without mail forwarding, since the deadline for responding may be missed before the recipient even knows the Notice has arrived). But it can also be sent to their out-of-state address. Nonresidents who receive the Notice are often perplexed and concerned about why they received the Notice, and how they are supposed to respond. This article clarifies what the Notice is about, the risk it poses, and the options nonresidents have for responding. Continue reading

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California criminal tax fraud in residency cases

What’s Happening?

There’s a noteworthy residency-related Easter egg in the criminal tax fraud indictment against the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg. The complaint includes the charge that Weisselberg fraudulently failed to file tax returns as a New York City resident, thus evading the municipality’s income tax on the city’s inhabitants. Monetarily, it’s one of the lesser offenses. It isn’t even mentioned in much of the media coverage. But it shines a spotlight on a question that sometimes arises in California residency tax planning: are there criminal tax fraud risks in asserting nonresidency while retaining or establishing significant contacts with California?

The Short Answer

The short answer is no. You would have to blatantly abuse California’s unique system for determining residency status, or commit outright perjury, to incur criminal tax fraud charges for claiming nonresidency. However, the long answer is, while California residency rules aren’t the same as New York’s, the two systems are enough alike that the Weisselberg case may embolden the FTB to think otherwise.

Background

First, the obvious point: the Weisselberg indictment was brought by the State of New York. Accordingly, no matter how the case is resolved, it can’t have a direct precedential impact on the enforcement of California’s residency rules. California draws on its own robust jurisprudence to adjudicate residency tax issues. It rarely needs to look to the outcomes and opinions from out-of-state courts in that regard. Continue reading

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california taxation of capital gains

The Case

A new case from California’s Office of Tax Appeals brings some clarity to how strictly California dates a change of residency for income tax purposes when a resident moves out of state shortly before a liquidity event. The case, Appeal of J. Bracamonte, OTA, Case No. 18010932 (May 2021), emphasized the importance of how much time a resident spends in California after the purported move. Bracamonte also sheds light on the “interim home” problem, which occurs when a resident moves into an out-of-state rental pending purchase of a permanent home in their new home state, while retaining ownership of their former primary residence in California. Finally, the ruling – probably inadvertently – seems to provide guidance on the date for determining when a taxpayer’s residency status is relevant to a liquidity event (the date of the closing, the date of the income receipt, or the date when an enforceable agreement is in effect). The case can be found here.

Background: How Does California Date a Change of Residency?

Changing residency from California is binary: it happens on a specific date. How do we know that? The Franchise Tax Board, California’s tax enforcement agency, requires that a resident leaving California identify the specific date of the residency change on Schedule CA of the Form 540NR “Part-Year” return, which exiting taxpayers, with few exceptions, have to file for the year they move. The exact question on the schedule is: “I became a California nonresident (enter new state of residence and date (mm/dd/yyyy) of move).” By the way, nonresidents moving to California also have to complete Schedule CA, conversely disclosing the date they become residents.

It bears mentioning that changing residency is a legal concept, and most taxpayers don’t know the rules or how to apply them to a calendar. This means there is no easy answer to when a residency change occurs. In fact, it can be totally counterintuitive. When the FTB asks an ambiguous question, it’s usually intentional. The FTB hopes the taxpayer will make a mistake that might be advantageous to the tax authority. Serendipitously, the taxpayers in Bracamonte did just that, originally putting a move-date on their 540NR that made no sense factually, something they were grilled about during trial, presumably eroding their credibility in the eyes of the court. Continue reading

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NFTs and California taxationHot as a Recalled MacBook Battery

The non-fungible token market has become as hot as a recalled MacBook lithium battery (if that’s possible). You’ve probably seen the figures: digital artist Beeple sold an NFT for a remarkable $69 million; a LeBron James non-fungible dunk clip lasting ten seconds went for $200,000; Jack Dorsey’s first tweet image_2022-04-21_131326787-300x184 was auctioned for $2.9 million (though shortly after the sale, the tweet’s value plummeted 99% at a subsequent auction).

Various funds and exchanges now tally NFT transactions in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The lucky beneficiaries of the market have surely taken into consideration federal taxes. But if they are nonresidents of California, they may not be thinking of how California might treat NFTs for tax purposes. Specifically, depending on the location of the buyer and the status of the seller, the income from NFT sales might be sourced to California, making it subject to California income tax. Oddly, in that case, due to favorable federal capital gains treatment of NFTs, it’s even possible that the California income tax might be higher than the federal tax. To add further complexity, NFTs are almost exclusively sold in exchange for cryptocurrency, adding cryptocurrency tax issues on top of the transaction.

What is an NFT?

People are used to non-fungible assets in the analog world: Action Comics #1 (the first Superman comic book), a stretch of beachfront real estate, the Mona Lisa. You might be able to copy these assets one way or another, but only the original has value. A snapshot of the Mona Lisa or a video of a beach house isn’t worth much. Hence, the non-fungible designation.

In contrast, media on the internet has always been susceptible to unlimited reproduction (whether in violation of copyright or not) without much loss in value. A copy of a YouTube video of Milli Vanilli has pretty much the same value, or lack thereof, as the original. Then came blockchain. The same public-ledger technology that authenticates bitcoin transactions can be used to validate the original digital file of a work of online art, or the NBA’s official slam-dunk competition clips, or Jack’s first, fateful tweet. Blockchain transformed digital media that could be infinitely reproduced with no significant diminishment of value, into a class of assets, like comic books or baseball cards, that could never be copied without a total loss of value. You can still copy an online version of an NFT as a screenshot or other facsimile. But the result is equivalent to a photo of the Mona Lisa. Continue reading

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