# California Tax Residence

Tax residency rule, United States. Page: https://usecountr.com/trackers/tax-us-ca-presumption/

## Summary

California presumes that you are a resident for income tax if you spend more than nine months of the tax year in the state in total. No home in California is needed. You can overcome the presumption only with satisfactory evidence that you are in California for a temporary or transitory purpose. Fewer than nine months does not make you a nonresident: the real test is whether California is where you have your closest connection. A resident is taxed on income from all sources. The Franchise Tax Board decides.

- Limit: More than nine months. Countr counts this as 273 days
- Period: The tax year, for most people 1 January to 31 December
- A day counts when: Not defined in the law. Countr counts any part of a day
- Home needed: No. Time in the state alone starts the presumption
- Law: Revenue and Taxation Code 17014 and 17016
- Run by: California Franchise Tax Board (FTB)

## Who it applies to

- People who came to California for work or family and stayed for most of the year without formally moving.
- Remote workers who live in California while their employer and legal home are in another state.
- People with homes in two states who spend the larger part of the year in California.
- People who think that staying under a number of days is enough to avoid California residence.

## The rule

Section 17014 of the Revenue and Taxation Code defines a resident as every individual who is in California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, and every individual domiciled in California who is outside the state for a temporary or transitory purpose. Domicile is your true, fixed, permanent home. California's main test is therefore the purpose of your stay, not a count of days.

Section 17016 adds the day rule: every individual who spends in the aggregate more than nine months of the taxable year within the 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. The FTB's regulation with the same number warns that the reverse is not true. A person is not a nonresident simply because he or she does not spend nine months in the state, and a person may even be a resident without being in the state during any part of the year.

Regulation 17014 explains 'temporary or transitory'. You are in California for a temporary purpose if you are passing through, here for a short rest or holiday, or here to complete a particular transaction or engagement that needs only a short time. You are not here for a temporary purpose if you are here for business that needs a long or indefinite time, for a job that may last permanently or indefinitely, to recover from an illness for a long or indefinite time, or if you have retired and come with no definite plan to leave soon.

The idea behind all of this, in the regulation's words, is that the state of residence is the state with which a person has the closest connection during the taxable year. FTB Publication 1031 lists what is compared: time spent in each state, where your spouse and children live, where your main home is, your driving licence and vehicle registration, where you vote, your bank accounts, your doctors and other professionals, and your work. No single item decides.

The law does not say how many days nine months is, and it does not say how a part of a day is counted. A sister rule for visitors with a home in another state is tracked in Countr as California Tax — Visitors.

Why it exists: California has high income tax rates and many people who would prefer to be taxed elsewhere. Its law taxes everyone who really lives in the state, whatever they say about their legal home. The nine-month presumption gives the Franchise Tax Board a simple starting point for the clearest cases, and it puts the work of proof on the person who was in California for most of the year.

## Counting the days

You add together all the time you spent in California during the tax year and ask whether it is more than nine months. Because the law gives no number of days, a careful count uses the shortest nine calendar months.

1. Take the tax year. For most people this is 1 January to 31 December.
2. Mark every calendar day on which you were in California, including arrival and departure days.
3. Add the days of all stays. The law says 'in the aggregate', so they do not need to be in a row.
4. Compare with 273 days, which is February to October in a normal year. Above that, treat the presumption as started.
5. If you are over, collect evidence that your purpose in California is temporary: a fixed end date, a home and family elsewhere, ties you kept in your home state.
6. If you are under, do the closest connection comparison anyway. The day count alone does not protect you.

How Countr counts it: Countr counts every calendar day on which your phone records you in California, from 1 January to 31 December. Any part of a day counts as a full day. Nine months is counted as 273 days, the shortest nine calendar months, so the warning comes early, never late. Countr starts to warn you 14 days before the limit. Countr cannot tell a day when you only passed through from a day when you stayed, so it counts both. The app shows only the day count. It cannot weigh your connections or the purpose of your stay, and a low count in Countr does not mean that California will treat you as a nonresident.

## Examples

### Ten months with family in San Diego

Irene is a retired teacher whose house is in Oregon. In 2026 she stays with her daughter in San Diego from 12 January to 31 October to help with a new baby. That is 20 days in January and 273 days from February to October, 293 days in total. She has spent more than nine months of the year in California, so she is presumed to be a resident. To overcome this she must give the FTB satisfactory evidence that her stay was temporary, for example that it had a planned end and that her home and ties stayed in Oregon.

### Only four months, but a resident

Arjun is an engineer from Texas. His employer moves him to the San Jose office with no end date, and he arrives on 1 September 2026 and rents a flat. By 31 December he has been in California for 122 days, far under nine months. There is no presumption. But a job that may last indefinitely is not a temporary purpose, so Arjun is a California resident from the day he arrived and a part-year resident for 2026.

### Which nine months?

Nine calendar months do not always have the same number of days. In 2026, 1 February to 31 October is 273 days, 1 January to 30 September is also 273 days, and 1 April to 31 December is 275 days. The law says 'more than nine months' and gives no number. Countr uses 273 days in every case, so a person who arrives on 1 April reaches Countr's limit on 29 December, two days before the ninth calendar month ends.

## Exceptions

- The presumption can be overcome with satisfactory evidence that you are in California only for a temporary or transitory purpose.
- A person domiciled in California who is outside the state under an employment-related contract for an uninterrupted period of at least 546 consecutive days is treated as a nonresident, a rule known as the safe harbor. Return visits of up to 45 days in a tax year are allowed.
- The safe harbor is not available if you have more than 200,000 dollars of intangible income, such as interest and dividends, in any tax year of the contract, or if the main purpose of the absence is to avoid income tax.
- A seasonal visitor, tourist or guest who is domiciled in another state, keeps a permanent home there and is in California for not more than six months in the year is considered to be here for a temporary purpose.
- Students do not change status automatically. The FTB says a student from another state who comes to a California school does not become a resident for that reason alone, and the facts decide.
- Military personnel and their spouses follow separate rules, set out in FTB Publication 1032.

## Common misconceptions

- "If I stay under nine months, I am not a California resident." The FTB's regulation says directly that a person is not a nonresident simply because he or she does not spend nine months in the state. A person with the closest connection to California is a resident with far fewer days.
- "California has a 183-day rule." There is no 183-day test for residence in California's income tax law. The numbers in the law and regulations are nine months for the presumption of residence and six months for the visitor rule.
- "My driving licence and voter registration are in Nevada, so I am a Nevada resident." These are only two items on a long list. The regulation says that statements about voting or filing tax elsewhere carry little weight alone. The FTB compares all your connections.
- "The presumption makes me a resident for ever." It applies to one tax year and can be overcome with evidence. Each year is judged on its own facts.

## Questions and answers

### How many days is nine months in California?

The law does not say. It only says 'more than nine months of the taxable year'. Inside one calendar year, nine calendar months have between 273 and 275 days, so a careful person treats 273 days as the line. Countr does the same.

### Does a day trip to California count?

The statute does not define how part days are counted. A careful count includes any day on which you were in the state. Days of passing through are a temporary purpose in the regulation, but they are still time in the state.

### What evidence overcomes the nine-month presumption?

Evidence that your purpose in California is temporary or transitory. The regulation mentions sworn statements from you and from people who know you, and the FTB looks at the purpose and length of the stay and at your ties to each state.

### What happens if I am a California resident?

California taxes residents on income from all sources, inside and outside the state. A nonresident is taxed only on income from California sources. A person who is a resident for part of the year files the nonresident or part-year resident return, Form 540NR.

### Can I be a California resident without living in California at all in a year?

Yes, in one case. A person domiciled in California who is away for a temporary or transitory purpose stays a resident. The regulation says a person may be a resident even though not in the state during any portion of the year.

### I worked abroad for two years. Was I a California resident?

Possibly not. If you were outside California under an employment-related contract for at least 546 consecutive days, visited for no more than 45 days in each tax year, and met the other conditions, the safe harbor treats you as a nonresident. Two separate contracts cannot be added together.

## Sources

- [Franchise Tax Board, Residents (residency status)](https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/residency-status/index.html)
- [Franchise Tax Board, Publication 1031, Guidelines for Determining Resident Status (2024)](https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2024/2024-1031-publication.pdf)
- [California Code of Regulations, title 18, section 17016, Presumption of residence (text of the regulation)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/18-CCR-17016)
- [California Code of Regulations, title 18, section 17014, Who are residents and nonresidents (text of the regulation)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/18-CCR-17014)

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Countr is an app for iPhone that counts your days in every country for visa, tax and residency rules, from the photos on your phone and your location. It explains rules and counts days. It does not give legal or tax advice. https://apps.apple.com/app/country-days-tracker-countr/id6810720800