{
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Provedays",
    "url": "https://provedays.com"
  },
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "attribution": "Provedays — provedays.com",
  "notice": "Rule data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Golden test fixtures, guide prose and the rule schema are not covered by this licence and remain all rights reserved. See https://provedays.com/terms/.",
  "documentation": "https://provedays.com/methodology/",
  "rule_id": "us.ca.safe_harbor",
  "versions": [
    {
      "rule_id": "us.ca.safe_harbor",
      "version": "2026.1",
      "jurisdiction": "US-CA",
      "title": "California 546-day safe harbour — ADVISORY",
      "summary": "RTC §17014(d): a California-domiciled individual absent from the state for an uninterrupted period of at least 546 consecutive days under an employment-related contract is considered outside California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose — i.e. nonresident for those years. Return visits of 45 days or fewer per taxable year are disregarded (the clock keeps running through them); the 46th day disqualifies. Lost where intangible income exceeds $200,000 in any contract year (per spouse, separately) or where the principal purpose of the absence is tax avoidance. Meeting the safe harbour helps you; failing it proves nothing — residence then turns on the facts-based closest-connections test.",
      "evaluator": "contiguous_stay",
      "determinative": false,
      "official_source_url": "https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=RTC&sectionNum=17014.",
      "last_verified": "2026-08-30",
      "effective_from": "1994-01-01",
      "effective_to": null,
      "disclaimer_level": "advisory",
      "convention": {
        "unspecified_by_authority": true
      },
      "params": {
        "reference_period": {
          "type": "calendar_year"
        },
        "countries": [
          "US-CA"
        ],
        "contiguous": {
          "mode": "continuous_absence",
          "length_days": 546,
          "max_return_days_per_period": 45,
          "required_attestations": [
            "us.ca.safe_harbor.domiciled",
            "us.ca.safe_harbor.employment_contract",
            "us.ca.safe_harbor.intangible_income_ok",
            "us.ca.safe_harbor.not_tax_motivated"
          ]
        }
      },
      "attestation_defs": [
        {
          "key": "us.ca.safe_harbor.domiciled",
          "question": "Are you domiciled in California — is California the permanent home you intend to return to?",
          "why_we_ask": "The safe harbour exists FOR California domiciliaries: §17014(d) opens 'any individual domiciled in this state'. If you are not domiciled in California, your residence turns on different rules entirely.",
          "type": "bool",
          "scope": "calendar_year"
        },
        {
          "key": "us.ca.safe_harbor.employment_contract",
          "question": "Is your absence from California under an employment-related contract?",
          "why_we_ask": "The 546-day absence must be 'under an employment-related contract' — a voluntary or self-directed absence does not qualify (§17014(d)).",
          "type": "bool",
          "scope": "calendar_year"
        },
        {
          "key": "us.ca.safe_harbor.intangible_income_ok",
          "question": "Was your income from intangibles (stocks, bonds, notes and similar) $200,000 or less this taxable year — counted separately for each spouse?",
          "why_we_ask": "§17014(d)(2) disqualifies the safe harbour where intangible income exceeds $200,000 in any taxable year the contract is in effect. The statute applies the test to each spouse's income SEPARATELY, and the figure is flat — not indexed (section unamended since 1994).",
          "type": "bool",
          "scope": "calendar_year"
        },
        {
          "key": "us.ca.safe_harbor.not_tax_motivated",
          "question": "Is the principal purpose of your absence something other than avoiding California personal income tax?",
          "why_we_ask": "§17014(d)(1): the safe harbour does not apply where the principal purpose of the absence is to avoid personal income tax.",
          "type": "bool",
          "scope": "calendar_year"
        }
      ],
      "notifications": [],
      "notes": [
        "Statute read at source (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, 30 August 2026): 'For any taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 1994, any individual domiciled in this state who is absent from the state for an uninterrupted period of at least 546 consecutive days under an employment-related contract shall be considered outside this state for other than a temporary or transitory purpose.' (Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 1243, Sec. 4; unamended since.)",
        "Return-day mechanics (OTA): up to 45 days per taxable year are DISREGARDED in determining the 546 consecutive days — the absence clock keeps running through return visits — while exceeding 45 in a taxable year disqualifies, it does not merely reset the clock. This counter's absence run cannot span a year with more than 45 California days.",
        "The $200,000 intangible-income ceiling applies to EACH SPOUSE SEPARATELY (§17014(d)(2)) — a joint-income reading is wrong. A spouse accompanying the taxpayer qualifies only if the spouse is also absent for the full 546 days (§17014(d)(3)); this rule does not model the spousal extension.",
        "Not modelled: §17014(b) — a California domiciliary holding US elective office, serving on an elected federal legislator's staff, or holding a Senate-confirmed federal executive appointment is deemed outside the state (armed forces and career Foreign Service excluded).",
        "California publishes NO day-counting convention — no part-day, arrival-day, departure-day or same-day rule anywhere in FTB Pub 1031 or the RSTM. This counter uses any-part-of-day and DISCLOSES the gap (convention.unspecified_by_authority). Do not treat one-day differences at the edges as decided.",
        "Failing the safe harbour mid-contract restores California residence for the affected taxable years — retroactive, whole-year, per year breached.",
        "sufficient_not_necessary: the safe harbour can only help. Not meeting it does NOT make you a California resident — that turns on the closest-connections facts (FTB Pub 1031), which no day counter decides."
      ]
    }
  ]
}