Will they consider me a resident for CA tax purpose?
Hello,
Apologies but I have a somewhat urgent tax query. We are closing soon on a house in San Francisco, CA. We are US citizens living in the Philippines. I want to ask if we would be considered as residents of CA for tax purposes (in CA this means they can tax my foreign income). A few points I think are relevant.
1. I have never lived in CA. I grew up in Philippines, lived in Pittsburgh from 1996 to 2005, then Philly for 2 years, then NY until 2011. I then moved to Philippines where I live now.
2. My wife lived in CA from 1986 to 1996 (until she left for college) but has not lived there since. She went to NY and was there until 2011, then moved to Philippines with me.
3. My wife's parents still live in San Francisco, and she has 2 brothers living there.
4. We visit family in CA once a year for 2-3 weeks. Otherwise we are not in CA.
5. We have some bank accounts in CA. Otherwise our investments are in stocks or in pension plan overseas.
6. My wife had a driver's license at one point in CA, though this expired many years ago. My driver license was most recently in NY; now I have international driver permit from Philippines.
7. My wife is not sure if she is registered to vote in CA. She was once and may be still but has not exercised this right in a long time. I am certainly not registered to vote in CA.
8. We are buying a property for rental income. We can show that we don't live there by showing rental income.
Does anyone with CA tax experience know if they might consider us residents with this type of profile? Is there any other information that may be relevant here?
Thank you for reading and for your advice.