What are the tax implications when working remotely and changing states every 3 months?

Question

I'm currently a perm resident of Washington (past 3 years). I work full-time for a big software company. I would like to work remotely in Florida, California, and Puerto Rico, and Texas, each for about 3 months.

I've been reading info online but most of the articles are about what happens when you permanently change your residency (i.e. live somewhere for more than half the year).

What if in a single year, I've lived in 4 different states? Will I have to pay any state income tax? Will my state for tax purposes remain as Washington if I don't have a permanent home anywhere else?

Answer 1

Speaking specifically about California you indeed will have to pay income tax. Assuming you qualify as a part-year resident you will need to pay tax on all income (regardless of source) during the part of the year you're a resident and pay tax on all income from CA sources during the part of the year you're a nonresident. More info here https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/residency-status/part-year-and-nonresident.html

Answer 2

This may partly depend on your employer. Since they're large, they've probably got employees in CA, TX, and FL, not sure about Puerto Rico; their payroll department would be able to tell you if they're set up to pay employees in those locations or not. During Coronavirus there has been some leeway for employers on allowing their employees to work remotely while paying tax in a different state (where they would usually be in the office).

Your employer couldn't really give you tax advice but they should be able to tell you in which states / territories you would owe tax.