How do you get health insurance? Does your company have an office in your state? If not, do they give you Californi-based coverage, with most providers being out-of-network?
(I am in the same position, working in not-CA for an employer HQ'd in CA.)
> How do you get health insurance?
Through my employer, like many employees.
> Does your company have an office in your state?
Yes, though I've not seen the inside of it with my eyes since March.
> If not, do they give you Californi-based coverage, with most providers being out-of-network?
While your question was conditional on the office, no, the CA-specific health plans are only available for CA employees. Non-CA employees have a different set of options. (Sadly: I was rather fond of Kaiser.)
I was asking because my son works for a tech company and was told that he could only move to states where they had an office, because that's where the company already has health coverage.
Since insurance doesn't cross state lines, if had wanted to relocate to South Dakota they would have to get him coverage with Blue Cross of South Dakota (or whichever carrier) which would require cost and administrative effort. Maybe they just didn't want to go through the trouble for one employee.
I don't think this is true. Employees pay taxes based on residency requirement. So if you are not a resident of CA, you don't pay taxes, regardless of where your HQ is
If California can claim the work was done in or for California. They’ll tax it. If you work remote from Texas but hr says your desk is in California. You owe California taxes.
This is categorically false. If you're a Texas resident, working for a California based company, but doing your work remotely in Texas, you absolutely do not owe taxes in California.
The concept of "work done for California" does not exist. If the work is done in Texas (at your house), you pay Texas taxes (no income tax).
He's right when he says that your desk location (your main office, not necessarily HQ) according to HR is what matters. That's where your withholdings go. You could maybe fight with the State of California for the refund next year, but in the meantime you'll pay taxes in the state if your paycheck says so. If your desk is in NYC, but live in CT or NJ, you'll pay taxes in two states, even if you haven't set foot in your office for months. You can try changing your residency to e.g. Texas as you say, getting assigned by HR to a new office or marked as remote, but you can bet that the original state will try everything in their book to keep some of your money.
Some states are more aggressive than others. Although you're right in general, there is actually a history of CA going aggressively after the money of residents of other states, like the screenwriter in AZ that did a lot of work for a California customer: https://ota.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2019/08/18032...
>He's right when he says that your desk location (your main office, not necessarily HQ) according to HR is what matters.
Incorrect, you kind of have this backwards. If you're a resident in another state (Texas), and are conducting work in that state (Texas, home office), then HR has to make sure they're conforming to the labor laws of that state (Texas), not the state of the office where you used to work (California).
>You could maybe fight with the State of California for the refund next year, but in the meantime you'll pay taxes in the state if your paycheck says so.
That's why it's pertinent to change your residency as soon as you move, and then update HR the same day. Else you're fighting an uphill battle for no reason.
>If your desk is in NYC, but live in CT or NJ, you'll pay taxes in two states, even if you haven't set foot in your office for months.
No longer true if you no longer actually work there.
>You can try changing your residency to e.g. Texas as you say, getting assigned by HR to a new office or marked as remote, but you can bet that the original state will try everything in their book to keep some of your money.
And you can give them the middle finger because they're wrong. Spending $300 to get your taxes prepped by a CPA will stop 99% of this shenanigans.
>Although you're right in general, there is actually a history of CA going aggressively after the money of residents of other states, like the screenwriter in AZ that did a lot of work for a California customer
There is some nuance to this. CA deliberately defines anybody who is in CA "other than for a transitory purpose" as a CA resident (for tax purposes). So if you happen to reside in TX but come to Redwood City for a couple weeks and work there, for example, CA can come after you. I am fairly certain this will happen more often once increasing numbers of people vote with their feet.
Even this is not entirely correct. They do not consider you a CA resident, but they consider the income you make while (more than transiently) in the state taxable.
Many states have similar clauses (NY, NJ, etc.), CA is not unique in this aspect.
CA is actually more generous than a number of states, which do not exempt transitory presence for work, so if you do earn any money at all for work while in the state you owe income taxes (and your employer is obligated to withhold for the State.)
This is simply false. I’ve lived in California, been hired for a California company, allowed to work from home, and moved out of state.
The moment I left California the state I paid income tax to changed.
Think of it this way: all of the government services I use are in the state I reside in. I use literally $0 in California services. Not police, not fire department, not roads: nada.
California had a reputation for being very strict about whether you are a “resident.” But it’s not infinite.
Once you’re gone, they can’t tax you.
There are some exceptions for people who live near in a neighboring state, but work physically in California.
No, you only pay for time worked in CA. The only exception I found are options/RSUs granted in CA and vested after you've left, these may be taxed in proportion to the time originally worked in CA after the grant.