How Do You Calculate California State Income Taxes?
• Answer the residency question. If the filer has not lived in California for the entire year, then either a short or long Form 540 NR should be filed. • Short Form 540NR. The filer should use this if he or she is filing as any status but married/registered domestic partner filing separately, if he or she has between 0 and 5 dependents, if total income is $100,000 or less, if income comes from certain sources like wages, taxable interest, unemployment compensation or paid family leave, if there are no itemized deductions, if there are only certain adjustments to the filer’s income (e.g. military pay adjustments) and if tax credits come from certain sources like dependents. • Long Form 540NR. The filer should this for all other scenarios not covered in the short form (e.g. income level higher than $100,000, if itemized deductions will be part of the return, etc.) • Determine filer’s status. The filer can file as one of 5 statuses: single, married/registered domestic partner filing joint
