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Do I Have to File a California Income Tax Return?

Filing Requirements for RDP Residents, Nonresidents, and Part-Year Residents

Residents – File a California tax return if either your gross income (which consists of all income you received from all sources in the

form of money, goods, property, and services, that is not exempt from tax) or your adjusted gross income (which consists of your federal

adjusted gross income from all sources, reduced or increased by all California income adjustments) is more than the amounts shown on

the chart below for your filing status, age, and number of dependents .

Nonresidents and Part-Year Residents – File a California tax return if you have any income from California sources and your

gross income (which consists of all income you received from all sources in the form of money, goods, property, and services, that

is not exempt from tax) or adjusted gross income (which consists of your federal adjusted gross income from all sources, reduced or

increased by all California income adjustments) is more than the amounts shown on the chart below for your filing status, age, and

number of dependents .

Note: If your gross income or adjusted gross income is less than the amounts listed on the chart, you may still have a filing requirement .

For more information, get California Form 540 Personal Income Tax Booklet or California Form 540NR Nonresident or Part-Year

Resident Income Tax Booklet .

California Gross Income

California Adjusted Gross Income

On 12/31/16,

and on 12/31/16,

my age was:

my filing status was:

Dependents

(If your 65th birthday is on

January 1, 2017, you are considered to

or more

be age 65 on December 31, 2016)

Head of household

Under 65

16,597

28,064

36,664

13,278

24,745

33,345

(Get FTB Pub .1540, California Head of

65 or older

22,147

30,747

37,627

18,828

27,428

34,308

Household Filing Status)

Married/RDP filing jointly

Under 65 (both spouses/RDPs)

33,197

44,664

53,264

26,558

38,025

46,625

Married/RDP filing separately

65 or older (one spouse/RDP)

38,747

47,347

54,227

32,108

40,708

47,588

(Combine the income of both spouses/

65 or older (both spouses/RDPs)

44,297

52,897

59,777

37,658

46,258

53,138

RDPs; both spouses/RDPs may be required

to file a tax return even if only one spouse/

RDP had income over the amounts listed .)

Qualifying widow(er)

Under 65

28,064

36,664

24,745

33,345

65 or older

30,747

37,627

27,428

34,308

Dependent of another person

Any age

More than your standard deduction (Use the California Standard Deduction

Any filing status

Worksheet for Dependents in the 540 or 540NR booklets to figure your

standard deduction .)

Filing Status

Note: If you are filing as an RDP, be sure to check the box next to the question in the Filing Status section of the tax return that asks

“If your California filing status is different from your federal status, check the box here . ” Use the following guidelines in determining the

proper filing status for your California tax return .

Married/RDP Filing Jointly – If any of the following is true, you may be able to file as Married/RDP Filing Jointly:

•

You were an RDP as of December 31, 2016, even if you did not live with your RDP at the end of 2016 .

•

Your RDP died in 2016 and you did not re-register as an RDP or marry in 2016 .

•

Your RDP died in 2017 before you filed a 2016 tax return .

Married/RDP Filing Separately

•

Community property rules apply to the division of income if you use the married/RDP filing separately status . For more information,

get FTB Pub . 1031, Guidelines for Determining Resident Status, or FTB Pub . 1032, Tax Information for Military Personnel .

•

You cannot claim a personal exemption credit for your RDP even if your RDP had no income, is not filing a tax return, and is not

claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return .

•

You may be able to file as head of household if your child lived with you and you lived apart from your RDP during the entire last

six months of 2016 .

Head of Household

For specific requirements to qualify for head of household filing status, get FTB Pub . 1540, California Head of Household Filing Status .

In general, head of household is for individuals who are unmarried and not in a registered domestic partnership and for certain married/

RDP individuals living apart (considered unmarried or considered not in a registered domestic partnership) who provide a home for

certain relatives . For more information, go to ftb.ca.gov and search for hoh .

Qualifying Widow(er) with Dependent Child

RDPs qualify for this filing status if all five of the following apply:

•

Your RDP died in 2014 or 2015 and you did not marry or enter into another registered domestic partnership in 2016.

•

You have a child, stepchild, adopted child, or foster child whom you claim as a dependent .

•

This child lived in your home for all of 2016 . Temporary absences, such as for vacation or school, count as time lived in the home .

•

You paid over half the cost of keeping up your home for this child .

•

You could have filed a joint return with your RDP the year he or she died, even if you actually did not do so .

FTB Pub . 737 2016 Page 3

California Rdp Adjustments Worksheet - Recalculated Federal Adjusted Gross Income - 2016 Page 3

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