CA resident college student in RI with earned&unearned income

[adamp]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? RI and CA

I am a college student in RI, but I am officially a CA resident (vote in CA, have a CA driver's license.) I have a few thousand dollars of earned income in RI that has already had RI taxes deducted from it, as well as a few thousand dollars of unearned income that has not had any taxes deducted from it yet. I did not earn any income in California this year. Not sure if it is relevant, but I am being claimed as a dependant.

What do I do for state income tax? Do I have to file in both states?

Thanks for your help,
Adam

[tdavidl]

most likely you will have to file a non-resident RI t/r and a resident CA return (assuming you're income is above the filing thresholds for those states). the same "earned" income will be reported in both states and you should get a credit on your CA return based on the income taxed in RI as well. if the "unearned" income has nothing to do with RI that income would not be consdidered taxable income in RI.

[adamp]

Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought I should be able to do, but I have not been able to figure it out yet. The RI return is fine--I'm only taxed for my RI income. However, I have not found any way to "get a credit on your CA return based on the income taxed in RI." (I started with form 540A, and since I couldn't figure anything out with it, I looked over form 540, but didn't see anything applicable on that one either.)

Any insight would be appreciated.

[Snipes5]

California will probably tax you on all of it, since you are a resident.

There is a way to adjust out the non-California source income, but you may need to see a tax pro to do that. I know our program at work can do that but I don't know what CA forms it generates, and whether it can be done if you are considered a full year CA resident.

Snipes