Here are some question for CA state income experts out there. Unfortunately(?) I am no longer in CA so I can not get a knowledgeable expert locally:
- Being an H1B worker in California for the most of last year so I was by definition of my status "temporary worker" and therefore was in CA temporary. Does this constitutes enough base to file as non-resident for CA? FTB does not give any rigid criteria (unlike IRS essential presence test) but gives the following definition:

"Every individual who is in this State for other than a temporary or transitory purpose;"
And
""Every individual who spends in the aggregate more than nine months of the taxable year within this state shall be presumed to be a resident. The presumption may be overcome by satisfactory evidence that the individual is in the state for a temporary or transitory purpose."
I am not sure if being temporary present in US on a temporary job constitutes such
Satisfactory evidence.

Filing as NR give my family substantial tax advantage as my wife's income from outside of CA is not taxable then.

General rule: If you were there for less than a year and you knew going in that your stay would be less than one year, you can reasonably make the argument that you were a non-resident.

This is especially true if your family was NOT in CA with you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AtlantaTaxExpert

General rule: If you were there for less than a year and you knew going in that your stay would be less than one year, you can reasonably make the argument that you were a non-resident.

This is especially true if your family was NOT in CA with you.

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- Thanks for the answer but I deliberately tried to provide less details to see if someone things that holding non-immigrant visa automatically allows one to declare him/her-self non-california resident. My situation is more complicated than what's summarized in your answer: I was In California for several years before that while getting my degree and getting post-degree training. Again, that stay was not permanent so technically by my visa status I was obliged to leave US and CA when my status expires. I was wondering if this thing by itself makes me non-resident? (I left CA right at the end of the 2006, slightly before x-mas if that matters. My new job is permanent and I am applying for immigrant visas now.)

If the non-resident argument will not fly I am still positive that I can make even better argument that my wife was not a CA resident while earning her wages in WA. But both CA and WA are community property state - does it mean that technically 50% of her income is still CA taxable as I was "getting" these being CA resident? And 100% of my income - her portion and my portion - are CA taxable as these are wages for the work performed in CA. In no publications of FTB or IRS did I saw the community income calculations for joint filing we're doing. But in the corresponding schedule we need to declare "income received as CA resident and income received from CA sources as non-resident". I am not certain that we need to take community property rules into account for calculating these.

If you are a student in CA for education purposes only, you are by definition a non-resident. Your visa status is irrelevant.