[throwawaygulf]

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).

[the-rc]

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...

[throwawaygulf]

>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

That's because he was deriving his income as a unitary business from entirely California sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2019/10/22/now-calif...

Again, a lot of states have similar laws on the books (VA, NY, etc.).

Source: I used to be a paralegal, and have worked remotely for a long time in various states.

[rmk]

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.

[throwawaygulf]

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.

[dragonwriter]

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.)