I lived and worked in CA for 9 months and then moved to NY for the last 3 months of the year. All of my income was earned in CA and I filed a CA tax return. NY now says I owe them for that year. Are they right?

I assume you didn't file a NY tax return for that year, correct? Also, please clarify - during the 3 months you lived in NY you had no income, not just no NY income but no income at all - is that correct? If so - you do not owe NY anything, and you need to respond back stating that this is the case. On the other hand, if you earned income from CA while living in NY, then you should have filed a tax return with NY (as well as CA). If you complete the NY part-year resident tax form (IT-203) you will probably find that the actual tax owed NY is pretty small - maybe even $0 - and that would provide the documentation for NY.

Correct, no NY tax return filed, only CA and Fed. And correct again, no income in NY for the last 3-4 months of the fiscal year I lived there right after moving. All income earned in CA was received prior to moving to NY. I was starting school and didn't work at all for a few months. I did have student loan income coming in to attend school, but nothing from a job. I sent all this information in to the NY tax board and they still want me to pay or come in for meeting or appeal to court.

I would suggest sending them a copy of your CA and Federal tax returns, so they can see that you paid CA tax on your entire income.

Thanks, that's exactly what I did and they rejected it without explanation. I just wanted to get an idea if they were right prior to going to their meeting.