Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim2
snowbirds who are retired and not operating a business or earning income in Ca have little to worry about. although as the state got more desperate, they have gone after the dividends & interest of some wealthy Palm Springs seasonal retired visitors.
its more the paid workcampers or seasonal hire folks who are technically tax residents, but frequently get away with it due to their low profile.
It comes down to the Ca FTB determination of your status as either: resident, part year resident or non-resident. a non-resident owes state tax only on income they earned inside Ca, like a professional athlete visiting the state for a one day game gets Ca taxed on that one day proportion of their annual salary. a part year resident owes Ca taxes on ALL their income for the months they were a part year resident, regardless of how or where that income was generated.
keep in mind the Ca FTB has full access to your IRS files and you are required to give them a copy of your IRS tax forms when you file your Ca return.
short term visitors get an exception from filing requirements, but only if their purpose for visiting Ca was "temporary & transitory". any fulltime, continuous stay over 9 months is automatically ruled a resident.
Here is a direct quote from the Ca FTB tax filing instructions:
" You will be presumed to be a California resident for any taxable year in which you spend more than nine months in this state."
Also, they have generally ruled that you are excluded from Temporary & Transitory status if you take paid employment or operate a business for profit within the state.
So the OP has multiple potential violations: one for his basic residency status and the resulting licenses & registrations; one for his personal tax filing status and whether he owes on just earned income or all income; and then there is the status of his business and whether it requires a Ca business license to operate and Ca business taxes, since he does in fact have a Ca office if he operates the business out of his coach while he lives in Ca.
Professional tax & legal advice from experienced Ca experts is called for.
Here are a few additional readings from folks who get paid well for this advice. Their clientele is from a different class, but the same rules apply.
THE PART-TIME RESIDENT TAX TRAP | Sanger & Manes, LLP | Palm Springs, California
A GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL (TAX-FREE) SNOWBIRDING | Sanger & Manes, LLP | Palm Springs, California |
We went thru quite a bit of research when making our final decision to retain our S&B home when we went into retirement. We'd always planned to keep one piece of California property, as income generation. Our decision to retain our S&B was purely to help my MIL. Family needs took priority over both our own financial best interests (We'd rather have sold this, and invested the assets elsewhere.). My wife has a brother that is very low functioning Down Syndrome, now in a group home in San Diego. My wife's Mother, will never leave the area, as she wants to be close to him and look in on him, as often and as long as she can. She had sever medical problems in 2013 and into early 2014, and limited financial resources. So, we shifted out home to be our Vacation Home, and moved her into it. We drop in to check on her well being, in between travels.
We do consider our RV our 'home', and did sell off many items as we mingled ours and my wife's mothers belongings (We wanted the home to feel 'like her's' too...). South Dakota is a good state for Full Time RV'ers, but we've also made a bond with the state.
California really makes it nerve racking for citizens, legal us Citizens, who decide due to financial reasons to leave the state in retirement. We very carefully followed all the rules in regards to leaving the California. I've now seen a Dentist in Arizona, and while I did do a visit and check up with my old Doctor in San Diego while in the area checking on my wife's Mother - I did make a point to keep a PPO, as we have our medical records with us - and will see other Doctors in other states as we travel.
Seems strange that a US Citizen needs to be worried about being harased, and as pointed out in these and other articles, spend thousands of dollars to defend their choice of relocating and going Full Time. Kind of sad that we must feel this way, and that many people must use Federal Courts to get California to leave them alone.
(Sorry for the long post
! But reading this article, brought back many of the things we reviewed as we were deciding to leave our old S&B home available for my wife's Mother, and for us to use from time to time as a Vacation Home. Brought back old discussions between us
!
Best to all. And be aware, that as long as you follow the rules, and you should not feel frighten of any government. Don't like some of the rules? Then let those that work for us know, and vote according to our beliefs....
Smitty
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