Originally Posted by flensr

Both Calif and NY will make every attempt to tax income generated in their states, even if the individual doing the work lives elsewhere. If your trip originates in CA, chances are CA will view that as income generated in CA, and will try to tax it accordingly. I have first hand knowledge that NY does this with medical doctors who live elsewhere but take temporary work in NY, even if they do that work remotely while physically sitting in another state. Need to be very careful how the company is set up to operate in various states if you're gonna play those games.

Not only that, CA will go after a mil pension if the pension was either earned OR benefits paid while a CA resident, even for a short time.

Tax evasion is a big deal, can't blame it all on mil folks gaming the system, and if you're talking about CA you have to consider CA state tax as an unavoidable cost of living, or a "good weather tax" if you're in so cal. Trying to establish residence elsewhere while "working in" CA is a good way to get pooped on unless you're rich enough to get a really talented tax shyster on your side. Last time I checked, "rich enough" was on the upside of $250k per year, and the scheme 10 yrs ago involved setting up an LLC with one employee (yourself), and then paying into a defined benefit pension with unlimited personal and company contribution. Thats apparently able to survive an audit only if you keep it up for long enough to be reasonable that you might actually end up earning back some sort of pension out of the money you squirrel away tax exempt into the pension fund.

But... don't take tax advice from other pilots, and be careful which tax and estate shyster you trust.