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You Moved to Medellín — So Why Is California Still Taxing You?

You packed up, moved to Medellín, and figured your California tax bill stayed behind with your old apartment. Then a notice showed up — or you started wondering if one's on its way. Here's the part almost nobody explains clearly: moving out of a state and ending your tax residency there are two completely different things, and California is widely known as one of the most aggressive states in the country about not letting go. The good news is that domicile can be changed with the right facts and the right documentation — you just need to understand what actually counts as proof, and what to do if a notice has already arrived.

Moving Abroad Doesn't Automatically End Your State Tax Residency

This is the assumption that trips up almost every American who relocates to Medellín: "I don't live there anymore, so I don't owe them anything." Filing your federal return correctly — claiming the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, reporting your foreign accounts — takes care of the IRS side of things. It does nothing, on its own, to end a state's claim on you.

States generally look at whether you've genuinely and permanently changed your domicile, not simply where you happen to be sleeping tonight. Until you've taken deliberate, documented steps to sever that legal tie, a state like California can keep treating you as a resident for tax purposes no matter how many stamps are in your passport.

Domicile vs. Residence: The Distinction That Actually Matters

These two words get used interchangeably in everyday conversation. For state tax purposes, they mean very different things.

Residence is simply where you're physically living right now — an apartment in El Poblado, a rental in Laureles, wherever your bed happens to be this year.

Domicile is your one true, permanent legal home: the place you intend to return to, the place your legal and financial life is anchored to. It's a matter of intent plus objective conduct — what you've actually done, not just what you say.

You can be physically absent from California for years and still be legally domiciled there if you haven't taken the steps to change it. That's the trap. A lot of remote workers and retirees in Medellín assume that time and distance alone do the work. They don't.

What California Actually Looks At: The Objective-Ties Test

When a state evaluates whether someone has truly left, it isn't guessing — it's working through a list of objective, provable facts. The recurring questions look like this:

  • Do you still own property in the state?

  • Did you keep an in-state driver's license or voter registration?

  • Where are your bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and professional licenses based?

  • Did your spouse or minor children stay behind?

  • How often — and for how long — do you go back for visits?

  • Where are you currently registered to vote?

Each tie, on its own, might mean little. Stacked together, they build a picture. If your name is still on a property deed, your license hasn't been surrendered, and your spouse and kids are still in the family home, a claim that you've moved to Colombia isn't going to hold up well against that record — regardless of how long you've actually been living in Sabaneta or Envigado.

Why California Specifically

California has a long-standing reputation as one of the most aggressive states in the country on residency questions. That reputation exists for a reason: the state has significant tax revenue riding on high earners who claim to have left, and its tax authority is known for digging into exactly the ties listed above. That doesn't mean changing your domicile is out of reach — it happens all the time — but it does mean the burden of proof tends to land on you, the taxpayer, to show the change was real and complete, not just claimed.

Grab our free Medellín Expat US Tax Checklist below — since you're reading this post, go straight to its state-residency red-flag section and see how many of these ties still apply to you.

Is There a Safe Harbor for Americans Working Abroad?

Some states do offer limited safe-harbor provisions for people working abroad under a sufficiently long foreign employment contract. "Limited" is the operative word: these provisions come with specific eligibility conditions, including caps on how many days you can spend back in the home state during the year, and they are not automatic. Miss one condition and safe-harbor treatment can disappear entirely. Whether a safe harbor applies to you depends entirely on your specific facts — your contract, your employer, your travel pattern, and the state involved — so it's worth a review rather than an assumption.

The Year You Moved: Part-Year Returns

If you're looking at the year you actually relocated, a full-year resident return usually isn't the right filing. A part-year resident return reports only the income you earned while you were still a resident of that state, then treats the rest of the year differently once your residency changed. Getting that split right — and documenting exactly when the change happened — matters both for what you owe and for building the paper trail that supports your change of domicile going forward.

Already Got a Notice From California?

If a proposed assessment or a residency questionnaire has already landed in your inbox or mailbox, don't sit on it and don't guess your way through it. These notices are usually the state's way of testing your claimed change of domicile, and how — and how quickly — you respond can matter. We can review the notice with you, help you understand what's actually being asked, and help prepare a response. No one can promise a particular result — every case turns on its own facts — but responding properly and on time beats responding late, or not at all.

This Is the Angle Most Expat Tax Preparers Skip

Most expat and digital-nomad tax preparers handle exactly one side of this: the federal return. They'll help with your 1040 and your Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, maybe your FBAR, and that's where it ends. If a sticky state like California, New York, or another aggressive state still considers you a resident, federal compliance alone does nothing to solve that.

Sabih Shafi is an Enrolled Agent — licensed by the U.S. Treasury — handling federal prep, FBAR/FATCA compliance, Streamlined catch-up filing for anyone behind on prior returns, and IRS representation under Form 2848 Power of Attorney. ASTR's coverage doesn't end at the federal line, though. We also work through the state-residency side: reviewing your objective ties, discussing whether a limited safe harbor might apply, preparing part-year returns, and helping you respond if a state notice has already arrived. (Form 2848 is a federal IRS form — it doesn't itself extend to state tax authorities, so where representation before a state is needed, that's handled as general representation, separate from the federal POA.)

And because many ASTR clients also have Colombian filing obligations, those are prepared by our licensed Colombian accounting partner — we coordinate both sides so nothing is double-taxed and the Foreign Tax Credit math lines up correctly.

Federal, state, and Colombian, under one roof. Most competitors in the Medellín expat space stop at the first one. That's the gap ASTR exists to close.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Maybe — it depends on whether you've actually changed your domicile, not just your address. If California can still point to ties like property, a driver's license, voter registration, or family remaining in-state, you may still be considered a resident for tax purposes. It's very fact-specific, so it's worth a review before you assume you're in the clear.

Don't ignore it, and don't guess your way through it on your own. These questionnaires are typically used to test a claimed change of domicile, so your answers matter and there are usually deadlines attached. Reach out so we can review the notice with you and help prepare a response before that deadline passes.

That's not a safe strategy. Unresolved residency questions can lead to proposed assessments, penalties, and interest that build over time, and the outcome depends entirely on your specific facts. For those who qualify, addressing it now — through a documented change of domicile, a part-year return, or a safe-harbor review — is generally far more manageable than letting it sit.

Book Your Free Review

Not sure where you actually stand with California — or any other state? A free review can map out exactly what applies to your specific situation.

Or call or text (323) 900-0305.

 
 
 

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