Posted on 01/28/2026 6:48:29 AM PST by Jacquerie
ccording to documents posted online by a family who formerly lived in California, the Golden State is trying to collect income taxes years after the family moved to Florida.
The documents, sent on Jan. 6, 2026, asked for receipts, invoices, canceled checks and other documentation showing that the family moved from California to Florida nearly four years ago. The California Franchise Tax Board, which sent the letter, also asked the family for a “narrative of the circumstances” surrounding the family’s move out of state.
Hari Raghavan, who with his wife, Mitali Gala, was the subject of the investigation by the California Franchise Tax Board, said he and Gala moved from California to Florida in 2021. They tried to sell the home they owned in California when they moved, but weren’t able to do so immediately, Raghavan told The Center Square.
“That spilled into 2022, but it was by no definition a primary residence anymore,” Raghavan said about the California home. “We moved to Florida to establish residency in 2021.” The Jan. 6 letter didn’t tell Raghavan and Gala how much they owe to the state of California in personal income taxes, Raghavan told The Center Square.
Raghavan first posted about his and Gala’s experience on X, formerly Twitter.
In an emailed statement to The Center Square, the Franchise Tax Board said individual tax records are confidential and information about one individual or family’s tax records can’t be shared. Investigations that determine if someone owes taxes can be lengthy, officials said.
“FTB’s audit program serves as the compliance mechanism for administering California’s tax code. “A residency audit determines if an individual is a resident, non-resident, or part-year resident for tax purposes. Residency audits take about 18 – 24 months to complete depending on a wide range of variables.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thecapitolist.com ...
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Instead, hire a CA tax attorney. It will be money well spent.
California and New York are notorious for try to tax people years after they moved out of state.
Generally, if you want to leave California, it’s best to get a job from a (remaining) REAL company, as in big company, and have them transfer you out of state. If you simply ‘claim’ to have left, they’re going to a lot of ‘fun’ with you as California has employees out of state, such as in Nevada, whose job is to investigate people who ‘claim’ to have left California.
My experience has been that residency audits are one of the most time consuming and expensive audits. They never seem to end. In the end New York was reluctant to issue an determination letter of non-residency.
scumbag siphons grasping at anything to pay for thier waste and fraud
CA tried to tax me 40 yrs ago for my military pay after I was discharged. At that time there was $1k a month exemption for active duty service pay, but I had to prove it. It took about a year.
New York hounded him for years after he moved.
California is losing a lot of revenue due to productive citizens and businesses moving out of state. A new, proposed “one-time” tax on billionaires is driving even more revenue out of the state:
“Billionaires are making strategic moves out of California ahead of a proposed one-time 5% wealth tax on residents with over $1 billion in net worth, retroactively applying to those residing in the state as of January 1, 2026.
High-profile billionaires like Larry Page, Larry Ellison, and Peter Thiel have taken steps to distance themselves from California.”
The billionaires well understand there is no such thing as a “one-time” tax - and the threshold will be lowered to “millionaires” - and then to anyone who has a bank account.
California taxes the suck-o-matic machine with long hoses.
Seems to me that California wants to make him prove his innocence instead of them proving his guilt.
I got stuck with this the first year I left CA.
Paid it and moved on.
It was only $800
As a CPA, I was involved in an audit by out of state Sales and Use tax auditors on a corporate client. While they found nothing after a several day audit, I turned them in to our state department of revenue as working in our state and being required to file a state income tax return on the non-resident income they received while working in our state.
We’ve been out of California for almost 6 years. We didn’t have problems. We bought a house in Arkansas. We cancelled our California voter registration. We immediately got Arkansas drivers licences. We registered to vote and voted in Arkansas
“As a CPA, I was involved in an audit by out of state Sales and Use tax auditors on a corporate client. While they found nothing after a several day audit, I turned them in to our state department of revenue as working in our state and being required to file a state income tax return on the non-resident income they received while working in our state.”
I like the way you think!!
this is the modern version of the Berlin Wall ...
“Former residents of California are taxed on all income earned while they were residents and only on California-sourced income after they move. This means they may still owe taxes on income from California sources, such as real estate or business operations, even after relocating.”
Had a client that was a resident of California that won a $22 million lawsuit. Not actually won as it was an out of court settlement with a pharmaceutical company that had been in litigation many years.
My first advice was to move to Texas, Florida, or Wyoming prior to signing the settlement agreement. They moved to Florida, established residency, purchased a large apartment building with one unit as their residence one week prior to signing the settlement agreement. They saved over $2 million in California taxes. That was far more than they paid for the apartment building in Florida.
I had to deal with the North Carolina Dept of Revenue a dozen years ago. I had moved to Texas in 2009. I kept getting unsolicited phone calls from a female stating she was from the NCDR and I owed taxes for 2010.
In the age of phone scams, I refused to give out information and said I didn’t live or work there in 2010. When my checking account was garnished by NC it got my attention.
I contacted the NCDR and asked why nothing was ever mailed and why they were cold calling people over such sensitive financial matters. They said they mailed it to me at ******** . I told them that I didn’t live there. Duh.
I faxed them- try finding a fax machine since the 1980s- the federal regulations showing I had 30 days to notify the FAA of a change of address and the FAAs record of my Texas address. One week later they redeposited the money back into my checking account.
Thankfully I was able to solve it on my own. A tax attorney was the next step.
I would be shocked if California was as cooperative.
EC
“Having dealt with these CA b@stards over thirty years ago, I advise DO NOT respond.”
Thirty years ago my wife worked for FTB. She has lots of stories about how people try to cheat on their taxes.
This is just a request for supporting documents.
If he had filed his California NR return properly he wouldn’t have received this request.
“I faxed them- try finding a fax machine since the 1980s-”
My PC printer has a fax option.
You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
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