RaleighDeacon
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- Mar 18, 2011
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Grasping at straws hoping someone on here can help me sort out a tax problem from 2017. By sort out, I mean put me in touch with a pro you recommend.
Here is what is going on:
I used to work as in independent contractor for Cisco Systems. I worked 1099 so I was not a W2 employee for any group. It was as if I was my own LLC. However, Cisco didn't pay me directly. I was paid through a company out of California called Resource Torrent. They opened my POs with Cisco (and I'm sure they got a cut from Cisco for doing so) but I worked for "x" amount per hour that I billed, and I got all of that gross money.
In 2017, I made $25,600 that was paid to me in this manner. I quit doing that work early in 2017 and went to a different company. Back at Cisco now as a W2 employee of Cisco. I had worked as a contractor for Cisco for years in this manner, through different companies that opened my PO.
I filed my 2017 taxes like always. Fast forward to the summer of 2019. I got a letter from the California Franchise Tax Board. According to them I should have filed a CA state tax return to report my "CA-sourced income." I have provided multiple pieces of documentation to them showing I live in NC and have always 100 percent worked in NC. Never doing any of this work in CA AND that I have paid both federal and NC taxes on that amount of income.
Just this week, after they reviewed my 2017 federal returns, along with my contract with Cisco and a list of all the work I was doing, plus several documents showing I live in NC, they are saying I have to file a 540 non-resident return with them for 2017 and any taxes owed would bear interest and penalties from then until now. (I have worked through some of the forms and it looks like it's unlikely I actually owed them any money in 2017, even by their own rules, but I would still owe penalties according to them).
I am stuck, because I'm not a CPA and their forms and instructions are gibberish to me mostly. In addition, I don't have time to deal with this shit, so... Anyone know a CPA or tax attorney in CA I can talk to? I know this is a long shot, but hoping that someone on here is in the know with CA tax law and can point me to someone they trust.
Here is what is going on:
I used to work as in independent contractor for Cisco Systems. I worked 1099 so I was not a W2 employee for any group. It was as if I was my own LLC. However, Cisco didn't pay me directly. I was paid through a company out of California called Resource Torrent. They opened my POs with Cisco (and I'm sure they got a cut from Cisco for doing so) but I worked for "x" amount per hour that I billed, and I got all of that gross money.
In 2017, I made $25,600 that was paid to me in this manner. I quit doing that work early in 2017 and went to a different company. Back at Cisco now as a W2 employee of Cisco. I had worked as a contractor for Cisco for years in this manner, through different companies that opened my PO.
I filed my 2017 taxes like always. Fast forward to the summer of 2019. I got a letter from the California Franchise Tax Board. According to them I should have filed a CA state tax return to report my "CA-sourced income." I have provided multiple pieces of documentation to them showing I live in NC and have always 100 percent worked in NC. Never doing any of this work in CA AND that I have paid both federal and NC taxes on that amount of income.
Just this week, after they reviewed my 2017 federal returns, along with my contract with Cisco and a list of all the work I was doing, plus several documents showing I live in NC, they are saying I have to file a 540 non-resident return with them for 2017 and any taxes owed would bear interest and penalties from then until now. (I have worked through some of the forms and it looks like it's unlikely I actually owed them any money in 2017, even by their own rules, but I would still owe penalties according to them).
I am stuck, because I'm not a CPA and their forms and instructions are gibberish to me mostly. In addition, I don't have time to deal with this shit, so... Anyone know a CPA or tax attorney in CA I can talk to? I know this is a long shot, but hoping that someone on here is in the know with CA tax law and can point me to someone they trust.