ULPT request: WFH when you’re not allowed to

And small business owners who believe that since we're all faaaaamily, everyone should be willing to make the occaaaasional sacrifice (but not get paid extra! That's what salary is for!) to go to these inane Zoom meetings with suppliers or vendors (who, frankly, ALSO would prefer a different time slot and so everyone's a bit grouchy) where nothing really ever gets solved anyways.

[-]

DarehegosGaming@reddit

I use to have a 5am meeting once a week (im on east coast) to talk to people in fucking Germany for work because they were too inconsiderate to just move the meeting to a more reasonable time due to and i quote “interfering with social time” on their site.

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washingtondough@reddit

Lol you got to love the Germans

[-]

af_cheddarhead@reddit

Ever work for the DoD?

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PistolofPete@reddit

Yes and a 3 am meeting is midnight PST

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PosiedonsSaltyAnus@reddit

Ya it's weird, a 3pm EST meeting is a noon meeting in cali. I wonder if there's a pattern here?

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MarathonRabbit69@reddit

Who tf has 3AM meetings with US stakeholders? India or Russia, maybe.

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Ok-Subject-9114b@reddit

Who’s having 7am meetings lol

[-]

delicate10drills@reddit

I would very into a 4am-noon workday while living in driving range of beaches, fires, and ski mountains!

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fd6270@reddit

7am meeting? That's going to be a decline from me like 99.9999% of the time.

[-]

trubluozzi@reddit

Fraud investigator here. I don't do tax fraud but have a fair idea on the methods they would likely use to catch you out. To put it simply, Do. Not. Leave. A. Paper. Trail. pay everything in cash and don't use a phone in your name. There may be things that catch you out like taking a bus to CA where you have to use id or taking a plane. However if you live within driving distance from your girlfriend then the state of CA would never know you were even there. However. My cavet is that I don't know if the tax investigator can aquire your log in on your computer, I suspect it would be extremely difficult to obtain that info. BUT. They would have to have reasonable suspicion in the first place to even look at you. And if you don't leave any paper trail you won't even be on their radar.

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Remarkable_Fuel9885@reddit

I love the idea that just however long ago you were at work, you were looking into people like “gotcha fraudster! Doing all that fraud stuff huh? Well too bad now I got you!” and then as soon as you get home you’re like “heee let me help you beat the system!” Lmao

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w00tabaga@reddit

It’s just a job lol

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emergencybarnacle@reddit

I had a coworker working from Mexico while her official residence was listed in California. this was a major risk, as we were in financial services, but she did it anyway. no one said anything until they wanted a reason to let her go, and said they had done a "company audit" and discovered she was working from an international location, so they fired her. so..take from this what you will. they'll likely find out somehow, and either won't care (until they do) or they will care and make you make a big decision.

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Dawgi100@reddit

Not even just those things…

Get a gym membership, use your credit card for too often or too long, get pulled over, buy a toll e-pass thing. Soooo many ways the California tax authority will find you and make you pay and rope your employer into it.

The IT thing is probably easiest. Get a home VPN and tunnel all traffic through it. But the state itself is a bigger concern as all have mentioned.

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TrashMouthDiver@reddit

What if you're had all your paychecks deposited to an online account like Orange or something? Then just file taxes in CA. Would a company audit your taxes?

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Dawgi100@reddit

You’re an idiot. And do not know how 1099’s work. The filer has to identify themselves. Also the employer would have to file one to match…

Just stay off the internet talking about things you have no clue about.

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TrashMouthDiver@reddit

Wow that was unnecessarily mean. Just trying to help. You COULD just go with "unfortunately this is wrong and here's why."

Excuse ME for existing. Go put your bowl in the dishwasher, no one's forcing you to eat the shit in your oatmeal.

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Dawgi100@reddit

You’re right. I apologize for the tone. That’s the problem though you’re trying to “help” where you are not knowledgeable. Don’t. Do. That. If OP listened to you they would bare the consequences from your thoughtless post…

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w00tabaga@reddit

This is the internet, expect everyone to be talking out of their ass

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TrashMouthDiver@reddit

It wasn't thoughtless, I wasn't trying to get OP arrested, just floating ideas. Granted, I'm not a tax attorney... but I think we can all agree that anyone taking advice DIRECTLY from the internet probably gets what they deserve amirite?

OP will pool the responses, take a bunch into account, probably do nothing because they'll realize upending your whole career for a girlfriend isn't the best idea ever, maybe do something, maybe not.

Side note, this is why I love Reddit. No one ever apologizes anywhere else online EVER. And I totally appreciate it. My new head is already starting to grow back lol

[-]

joeyirv@reddit

you would be shocked how fast hard rules can change for top performers. everything at work is negotiable. hr policies are litterally made up and change all the time.

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Ok_Mud902133@reddit

Not true. Often the risk that comes with setting the precedent is one that cannot be accepted.

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PappyBlueRibs@reddit

We had a rule that no one worked from home. Covid hit and we all worked from home so the rule changed. Then 3 top performers moved to other states so the rule changed.

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turtlebox420@reddit

They won't care and will let him quit

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joeyirv@reddit

depends on if we are talking a huge company or one that actually needs them

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fixit858@reddit

Get a mailbox service in desired state any pay for mail forwarding. Likely won’t get caught using vpn from Cali unless they decide to dig real deep. Probably worth the risk to stay with your partner.

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omegablacks@reddit

Can you login to your company VPN from another VPN? Can you set up a proxy in another state and use it to login?

Can you leave your computer in another state with a trusted relative and RDP to it?

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cmmpssh@reddit

I'd probably be more concerned that the state of California nails you and your employer for not reporting and withholding/remitting payroll taxes

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Nukegm426@reddit

This is the big thing. And commiefornia goes after everyone they can.

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Same_Success_1042@reddit

Get a load of this guy

[-]

GKrollin@reddit

The state is literally burning down and there’s no money to fix it and snobby liberals are just glad their president spends more time in diapers than the courtroom

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Nukegm426@reddit

I find it funny that the comment I agreed to is upvoted but me agreeing to it is downvoted. Oh no… random strangers don’t like what I said… Lmmfao

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Stebben84@reddit

Your comment was completely different and made you sound like a 13 year old.

"Commiefornia" Really? Do you think that's clever?

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SSYe5@reddit

well its less that you agreed but how you agreed my guy

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Local_Anything191@reddit

He could literally just report it himself on his annual tax return and pay California what they were due. It’s not that big of a deal.

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cmmpssh@reddit

If he's a 1099 contractor, yeah. If he's a W-2 employee, the law requires the employer to file quarterly payroll and unemployment reports with the state and to withhold state taxes and send them into the state (usually monthly).

If OP claims W2 wages on his state tax return, CA is going to match up his info with their records. If no state taxes have been received on the employees account, they are going to get a wage audit. OP then either gives up the name of the employer or gets in trouble. Either way, the employer has a reasonably good chance of figuring out OP is working from Cali, most likely when the company gets a notice of penalties for failure to comply with CA employment law.

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Local_Anything191@reddit

Yeah I know, I’m a CPA and file taxes for a living. In OP’s case he can just make his own estimates quarterly payments with about 5 minutes of research. Again, it’s not a big deal haha

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mynameiskeven@reddit

Except until it becomes a huge deal for the employer once California comes knocking. Then you better believe it’s going to quickly become a big deal for the employee too

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Local_Anything191@reddit

If OP is making estimates quarterly payments to California, California will never come knocking. Do you not know what ES payments are?

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mynameiskeven@reddit

Please stop signing returns

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Local_Anything191@reddit

You don’t know what ES payments are. Typical Reddit dunce trying to act like you understand things you very obviously don’t

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mynameiskeven@reddit

I predict some fun FTB correspondence in your future

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Strainer520@reddit

CA will come knocking. OP would be reporting his income from the employer as CA income. This results in CA nexus for the employer and would require state business registration and business tax filings. Source: Also a CPA

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InquisitivelyADHD@reddit

He could but you'd be paying double taxes then since he would also be required to pay taxes on whatever state he was "living" in according to the company because he's a W-2 employee.

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Local_Anything191@reddit

Yeah that is true, he could tell his work that he’ll make his own estimated quarterly state payments for whatever reason and for them to not withhold any taxes from his W2. Would look sketch as hell though but maybe the payroll person wouldn’t pay it any mind? Idk

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jquest303@reddit

What part of California? If San Diego or LA, you could get a cheap place in Yuma, AZ or western Nevada as your permanent address, live there part time and stay with your girlfriend in California the rest of the time. If San Francisco, you could get a place in Reno, NV or around the Lake Tahoe area and do the same. This does entail some driving (or flying) often to make it work but I guess it depends on how good your job is and if she is worth it to you.

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uha@reddit

This is a great tip and op should do this. Look into how many days you need to be in NV or AZ to establish residency there then spend rest of time in CA.

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ChestNok@reddit

If I'm getting this correctly "establishing residency" does not matter much - cause OP has to do his work from a computer based outside of CA, and obviously it is a time consuming process - so he'd be forced to stay in NV or AZ just because of the fact he needs to do his job.

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soopirV@reddit

Arizona requires 9 months in a taxable year to establish residency.

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Berzerkly@reddit

Wouldnt you need to spend more than half of your time there to have it count as your primary residence?

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TacosAreJustice@reddit

Yes, and the state can and will come after you…

Source: my parents winter in Palm springs, and have had friends get audited.

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MarathonRabbit69@reddit

If OP maintains banking accounts with an attached residential address in California, yes, he will get audited and yes he will get fucked.

If OP maintains all correspondence out of state, then it is highly unlikely he will be caught. See the many politicians lately that “rent” a small room in a state they don’t live in in order to maintain residence. Many for years before getting caught by the press, not tax authorities.

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TacosAreJustice@reddit

I mean… there’s a difference between pretending to live in Missouri and being a senator / congress person and avoiding the California tax authority…

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slimninj4@reddit

thats the unethical part

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The-Lifeguard@reddit

They should create a sub for that!

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theonliestone@reddit

Let's call it r/ProTipsThatAreUnethicalForLife

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ElCamo267@reddit

I vote for r/pissdiscs instead

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MarathonRabbit69@reddit

I personally like r/LiquidAssIsTheAnswer

[-]

Berzerkly@reddit

But the dude I was replying to was talking about doing it legitimately

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Phillyfreak5@reddit

I wish they did that in mountain towns. Rich people need to fuck off

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Firefighter_RN@reddit

Interestingly it depends on the state.

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diamondpredator@reddit

This is the best advice - anything else is likely to get caught by IT.

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F0urTheWin@reddit

This sounds too ethical for this sub LOLOLOLOL

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Shakawakahn@reddit

Yuma is 3 hours away and a bit of a hell hole. Wouldn't be worth it for me personally

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MarathonRabbit69@reddit

Mexicali…

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JohnHazardWandering@reddit

Rent a tiny , cheap apt on a border state for a mailing address.

Use a VPN to fake being in that state.

Have everything else (lease, utility, car registration) under your girlfriend's name.

Other than cell phone location records and credit card spend, nobody (CA tax or your employer) can't easily find that you're in CA without digging deep.

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Inevitable_Professor@reddit

Establish residency in an Arizona RV park with a long-term lease. Or find a nice 1br park model to use as your ~~vacation home~~ primary residence.

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threeaxle@reddit

Be smart. We had a guy at my job that his address was in NY, but he actually moved to Mexico for cheap rent. All the while making a NY paycheck. It worked until he started missing too much because Mexico internet is unreliable. Then, he got in some issue with a bad cop that stole his ID and had to miss a few days. He even went so far as to buy a NY to Mexico plane ticket to try and make it look like he was just on vacation. At that point, the company starting getting suspicious and found out what he was doing.

But you could prob pull it off. Go big or go home.

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Gman2k4@reddit

They will know where you are as soon as you hit the net. We can tell every SSID you ever connected to IP address… if they want depending on your company can disable your access shut your computer down & u will be left with a paper weight

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FatherOfHoodoo@reddit

Post office boxes are your friend. There's no law says you can't rent one out-of-state...

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NoPoem2785@reddit

There’s even mailbox services that RV/nomads use that will receive your mail and the. Send it wherever you are.

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unrelevantly@reddit

Brother your laptop will inform them of your location every single time you connect to the internet, if the company cares there's nothing you can do.

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Embarrassed_Flan_869@reddit

Working "discreetly" from states that you're not allowed to is difficult. Getting away with it from a company standpoint is a whole different thing.

The bigger problem is that you're working in probably the hardest state to work from. California requires you to pay taxes on any income earned in the state.

If you have an address in another state and have nothing tying you to Cali, that's fine. You don't exist. However, if you get a license/have a lease or mortgage, register a car, bills start being sent to a Cali address, they will catch you.

Throw in the employment laws in Cali that any company must use for workers based there....

My company has remote people in Cali. Every time an updated policy comes out, there is always "every state but California" and then a specific one for California.

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DontRememberOldPass@reddit

This. California uses license plate readers on all the freeways and major roads to look for out of state plates to harass for registration fees. If you get caught and re-register your car in California that is an admission of guilt and they will hit you for back taxes to when your car first entered the state.

Once they smell blood in the water you can try to deny living in California, but they will demand you show receipts for buying groceries and gas every week out of state. They can also legally request your cell phone records to see what towers your phone counted to.

Do not fuck with California.

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Diddlesquatch@reddit

This is not even remotely true. I had an unregistered car that I drove up and down the 5 between San Jose and LA for 6 years and the only reason it got eventually towed and surrendered was because a fucking coworker got mad at me and called it in to the sheriff. They absolutely would have not caught me otherwise.

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dendritedendwrong@reddit

Wow what a dick.

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DontRememberOldPass@reddit

Unregistered is different than having a car registered in another state.

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UnluckyPassenger5075@reddit

Complete nonsense. I lived in CA for 5 years while continuing to renew tabs from my old Midwestern state before eventually changing to CA. Nothing happened. Lots of people do the same thing to avoid the high registration costs and overall hassle of their DMVs.

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diamondpredator@reddit

Yep, lots of expensive cars here with Montana plates and I promise you they don't live in Montana.

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Iccarys@reddit

Nah that’s only on paper and I’ve yet to see this enforced. Drove an out of state car for 2 years and then when I registered for CA plates, I just put that the car arrived in CA last week. DMV never checked or questioned it despite I’ve drove through countless tolls.

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Important_Twist_693@reddit

Any source for that? Sounds unlikely

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ughtheinternet@reddit

Hijacking the top comment to say that I did this for a little over a year. I moved to California with my finance, but I still “lived” in my previous state by changing my official address to a friend’s house. I didn’t register anything in California. I wasn’t on the lease, I didn’t register my car, etc. I could believably do things like get a gym membership/go to the doctor because it’s believable to visit your fiancé for a couple weeks at a time.

Note that no one I worked with cared. My boss told me to take that approach until they could get everything figured out to transfer me to California for real.

I didn’t like doing it because, well, tax fraud. I’m very glad to now be on the up-and-up and an official resident/worker in California. I’m less than a year out from the switch so I suppose there could still be fallout, but there were no issues during tax time last year, and I’m hoping for the same this year!

[-]

ucb2222@reddit

Winner winner chicken dinner.

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1BenWolf@reddit

You could probably get a PO Box from a UPS store. That’ll give you an actual mailing address and a number instead of a post office PO Box, which everyone knows is just a PO Box.

Be careful with your social media posts—you’re never living in California, only visiting. If you never set up a formal residence there, and if everything is in gf’s name, then technically you don’t live there. Keep your existing driver’s license.

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Trash_RS3_Bot@reddit

Uh, living in CA and not paying CA taxes will be your problem, not the employer. This is tax fraud brother, not gunna happen.

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nomad5926@reddit

Tax fraud got the biggest monster in history, it can get you too.

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Masenko-ha@reddit

Can he not just keep another address somewhere else and “visit” her for 11.5/12 months a year?

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GivesCredit@reddit

Basically nothing can be under his name. No car registered in California, no mailing address, etc etc

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Masenko-ha@reddit

Sounds like another win to me 🤷🏻‍♂️

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scubadoobadoooo@reddit

OP will pay taxes in the state where his company is located. At least that’s what I do

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Inevitable_Professor@reddit

I'd delete this comment. It will be used against you in a state income tax audit. Any state that has an income tax requires residents to pay the income tax where they reside. Most will allow you to offset taxes paid in the state where the income is earned, but if your employment state has a lower tax rate, you're going to own your residency state.

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scubadoobadoooo@reddit

Thank you professor

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ample_mammal@reddit

This is the only real answer. ULPT: commit tax fraud.

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bemused_alligators@reddit

I mean you can just pay it out yourself. Say you moved to Washington (no income tax there) and then just pay in your own instead of having your employer do it.

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rob94708@reddit

No, don’t do this.

If you tell California that your employer is an out of state business, and that out of state business is not registered in California, California will go after the company to make them have a business license, charge sales tax to California customers, and so on. The company will fire the employee rather than do that.

This happened to my small business: an employee who already worked from home in my own state asked if she could move to another state, and I said yes without thinking much of it. I use a third-party payroll company that paid her.

After a couple of years, the other state’s tax authorities out of the blue put a $200,000 tax lien on my company because the employee working there created a “nexus“ but I wasn’t registered in that state or charging sales tax in that state. It was a nightmare that ended up costing me tens of thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties and legal fees.

The company doesn’t want OP to work in California because if they have even a single California employee, the company will become subject to all sorts of new rules and taxes. And California will find out.

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Biaterbiaterbiater@reddit

he did ask for unethical tips

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Effective-Being-849@reddit

Also for workers compensation, unemployment, etc. If your employee gets hurt working at home...

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ample_mammal@reddit

Say you moved to Washington (no income tax there) So.. tax fraud.

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thatgraygal@reddit

Happy Cake Day Friend! 🍰

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anonymousetache@reddit

ULPT: ok, but don’t do it to CA. They won’t give up the fight

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Trash_RS3_Bot@reddit

Lots of spots where this is extremely unlikely to get you caught, but working in a state without paying state income tax will very likely fuck you in the end lmao

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rjnd2828@reddit

Also likely state unemployment, state FMLA,I don't know which apply in CA but I'm guessing there are payroll taxes that need to be tied to employment

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Tairc@reddit

This. Nothing is more frightening than the CA tax collectors trying to catch anyone living in CA and not paying state taxes. They’re ruthless - and good at their jobs.

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AlphaNoodlz@reddit

The IRS don’t play

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cmmpssh@reddit

IRS don't give a crap. It's the FTB (California's tax agency) that you need to worry about

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The_Troyminator@reddit

They don’t play either. They’re even less accommodating than the IRS.

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cmmpssh@reddit

Agreed. State tax agencies are usually better staffed and more inflexible than the feds.

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bemused_alligators@reddit

I mean you can just pay it out yourself. Say you moved to Washington (no income tax there) and then just pay in on your own instead of having your employer do it - Same as all the self employed and contractors do.

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chunky_lover92@reddit

This would probably still screw over the employer assuming they have some tax they are supposed to pay as well.

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thechampaignlife@reddit

Workers comp, probably. Not that I would expect a claim when WFH.

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art-of-war@reddit

How do they investigate this?

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TexasVulvaAficionado@reddit

Have your name on a utility bill?

Register a vehicle?

Buy a house?

Change your credit card billing address?

Change your shipping address?

All things that could potentially tip off the tax authorities in CA.

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eroltam92@reddit

I lived and worked remotely in PA with my gf for two years, having previously lived in NJ. My company was in NJ and I never had any problems, I only filed NJ tax returns. I never got a license in PA, never registered a car there, never changed the official address with my company, etc. - for all legal purposes I officially lived in NJ (I used a family member's address).

I assume if you got a driver's license or ID in a state they have some way of checking if tax returns are filed but otherwise idk how feasible it is to get in trouble for something like this

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chobro911@reddit

Happen to me when I live in IL and worked in WI. Still paying out the ass for tax time because I didn’t know to have both states take out.

[-]

SuperbOrchid4565@reddit

IT is going to know your location, even with a vpn. The main reason CA is not allowed is probably due to their labor laws. By law you have to be paid your final pay on your last day of work. A lot of out of state companies have problems meeting that requirement.

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Talloakster@reddit

False with a dedicated VPN router. See my other comment.

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Embarrassed_Ad_1764@reddit

A good IT department will blacklist VPNs except the one they use.

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octopus4488@reddit

Taxes aside ... fooling your IT department costs about 20 dollars per month, + setup cost, mostly just finicky, not hard to do.

Find a geek friend who can route your net traffic through New York. I would do it for free for a friend, it takes like 1-2 hours.

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Talloakster@reddit

A dedicated travel or VPN router is best.

It's true your company could detect that you're using a VPN, but won't know you're in CA. To avoid that risk, you'd want a geeky friend with fiber anywhere in the other 49 states to host a little vpn server at their home. Harder, but then undetectable, as traffic would hit your work system from a home ip.

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Talloakster@reddit

You can buy a dedicated VPN router for like $50-75. It vpns to (pick the state). Then any device (your work laptop) connected to that router has no inkling it's not there. That's better than screwing with the work laptop for several reasons (esp ease, and detectability).

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MarathonRabbit69@reddit

Just get a virtual address outside of california, and vpn from there.

Of course you’ll be violating tax laws, but it’s probably hard for them to catch if you use the virtual address for all correspondence.

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sucrepunch@reddit

unless you plan on going to jail for tax fraud later down the line, there isn’t a way.

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Talloakster@reddit

No way. People do this all the time (technically work in CA but don't establish any state paper trail). Zero of them go to jail.

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AppropriateSpell5405@reddit

You can try. I've had a setup where my 'home' internet was entirely VPNd to a different location, my laptop was set to the right time zone, and Slack still showing folks I was in a different country.

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Elegant_Housing_For@reddit

Worked IT, used Akamai for remote desktop. We could track where you were. One used a VPN and it was easy to pick up. Normally had a IP from Peekskill and then all of a sudden in the city for a week for a straight week (she was in California on a trip). The only thing I could think of is have residency in another state and work from California. Also IT won't look into this unless you give them reason to (HR gets suspicious).

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Connect_Housing_5758@reddit

Moral of the story: California sucks and you shouldn’t move there in the first place lol

[-]

avenndiagram@reddit

If you're worried about the integrity of the VPN or that it could be detected, yes, as VPNs show as data centers to the IP log. However, a residential proxy would not, as it would show as Comcast, ATNT, or whatever normal service provider someone uses, and is more legit in that sense.

[-]

jtfarabee@reddit

From a technical standpoint, you can just VPN from a state your company will let you work from. Or lease some bandwidth from friends or family near you now and set up a computer at their place that you can remote into from Cali. The IP address will be tied to their address.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, California will get very angry at you if they find you living in their state without paying tax there. If you legally move to California, you will most definitely want to pay tax in California.

I’m not sure if your job would allow it, but if they could transfer you from employee to contractor, it might help. You’d have to set up a business in California, but as a contractor you’d be 100% responsible for all taxes so it might let your current employer off the hook. Of course they may not go for it, because then there’s a lot of employee handbook stuff they can’t enforce anymore.

[-]

snertznfertz@reddit

IT guy here.

Could they (the companies IT team) determine where you’re connecting from? Absolutely.

Would they care? Would it be worth their time to check on you? That depends. Most likely not, but possibly.

Most companies that allow telework have restrictions on what countries can access their systems and data, but I would think they wouldn’t go as far as restricting IP connections at/by the state level. It would be too much work with very little reward and/or too many possible issues resulting from it.

All that said, this is most likely on the HR/accounting side of things since you mentioned taxes. In my position I have entirely too many other things to worry about than where someone is remote working from -unless specifically directed to find this information by the aforementioned parties OR the connection from the place is causing a noticeable issue (i.e due to security restrictions that location is a geo blocked location or country - which would likely be built into their systems and block you automatically)

TLDR: you might be okay, just depending on how tenacious your company is about enforcing this rule and / or micromanaging employees

[-]

alwayscomplimenting@reddit

Not IT but I was told the same and just wanted to share that the reason is taxes, if they didn’t explain

California is SUPER strict - if an employee does even a small amount of work there, it potentially subjects the employer to California taxes which can be a huge amount of money.

I’m also monitoring this thread for ideas lol, but I’ve seen enough horror stories of one slip-up ruining people’s attempts that I’m not sure I have the courage to try it myself.

[-]

talmejespi@reddit

Just get a new girlfriend.

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bullshitfreebrowsing@reddit

They wont find out

[-]

incorrectformula@reddit

You can ask r/remotework

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PlanetaryPeak@reddit

Live in a town on the broader of cali, but in another state like Nevada. Then you are only a few hours away.

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mstrpiccolo@reddit

Spent the week in Minnesota while appearing to be in DC using company VPN. Requires some thought. In order to access network resources I have to be on a company VPN but that VPN then registers my location. Workaround? I took my laptop with me. Used Tailscale VPN to remote into (via Remote Desktop connection) my home computer which was connected to corporate network VPN and boom, I’m at home.

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scubadoobadoooo@reddit

Use a VPN to pretend to be in another state

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Dawgi100@reddit

Not even just those things…

Get a gym membership, use your credit card for too often or too long, get pulled over, buy a toll e-pass thing. Soooo many ways the California tax authority will find you and make you pay and rope your employer into it.

The IT thing is probably easiest. Get a home VPN and tunnel all traffic through it. But the state itself is a bigger concern as all have mentioned.

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_unfinished_usernam@reddit

Set up a VPN at a friend or family member's home in one of the 49 states. Connect your router in California to that VPN. All of your traffic will appear to come from there.

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dcmathproof@reddit

Use your own vpn and keep your location wherever you have been at (not CA) ?

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Kowabunga_Dude@reddit

Also, you didn’t say where you live, but more than likely you can find a similar job in California paying much higher wages. Lots of jobs pay more in California than the East Coast or Midwest because of the cost of living.

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PoonOnTheMoon314@reddit

Get a PO Box in another state

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jrbeers94@reddit

Who is gonna come check if you say you live somewhere else if you don’t give them a reason to…?

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MrFibs@reddit

Maybe blocked, maybe notified, definitely logged and noticed sooner or later. And you probably don't have the user permissions to install anything.

However, if your new home network itself (as in your router/firewall) is VPN'd to the state where you currently live (and ideally is the only gateway up on your router/firewall), when you connect to your work client VPN it'll log as the IP and location of where your home network is VPN'd to (along with everything else). You could also get a P.O. box and a mail forwarding service as well.

Definitely wouldn't want to use your work computer at a Starbucks or airport or anything else.

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L0LTHED0G@reddit

Where's your parents live?

Set up a VPN, VPN there, and if they use any sort of IP geo tracking they'll see your traffic coming from the other state.

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aleshere@reddit

Question is if the “unmissable” opportunity stays unmissable when ascertained that you’ll be long distance for the foreseeable future. Because that’s going to be tough, likely unsuccessful. Decisions to be made ahead. I’d suggest sitting down with your gf and discuss priorities..

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Amplith@reddit

Too many ways to get caught doing this…

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81rd5@reddit

It has more to do with a residency, so I wouldn't worry too much about masking your location. They mainly care where the payroll would theoretically mail the checks. As long as your residence state doesn't change, you could just be visiting forever. Before any one brings any in technicalities, just remember the subreddit name please.

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Ash3Monti@reddit

While I respect the intent of the sub reddit there is no such thing as “as long as your residence doesn’t change”. People who permanently live in one state and work in another (think major cities like St. Louis, Chicago or Kansas City that are in the border or other states) owe taxes to the state where they work. Sometimes both states. If there’s an unethical pro tip for OP, I want to give it to him, but “residence state” is nonsense. Once the VPN logs a certain number of hours in CA, the tax man comes. (In Illinois you can work in the state for 12 weeks before you owe state taxes. Other states probably vary)

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81rd5@reddit

I think there may be a disconnect just in terms of practical enforcement, or what you vs I are talking about. If his company is in Texas, and he maintains a residence in Texas working "remote", but is physically working out of California (also remote), who exactly is going to find out he is working out of California and not Texas? Is the tax man with us right now?

Also which VPN is logging hours and sending them to the tax man? I'm just so curious how you came up with your comment.

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Ash3Monti@reddit

Experience: My IT department noticed I was regularly logging on from a different state and reported to HR who told me I could not work from a state other than my assigned state without prior authorization. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Company’s do not want to be fined for not paying the appropriate amount of payroll tax.

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BostonTom878@reddit

The vpn is to avoid this. Super uplt set up a server at your residence in whatever state you're allowed to work from and remotely log into it with Tails or something similar, then use that machine to log into your companies system.

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RirikuKun@reddit

your company’s policy excludes California for remote work due to tax-related reasons. Attempting to bypass this policy by using a VPN to access company systems from California could lead to serious consequences, including potential termination.

Employers can detect VPN usage and monitor IP addresses accessing their networks. For instance, one Reddit user shared that their company sent an alert about a VPN login from an overseas location, even though it was just a local coffee shop with a foreign-registered IP.

Moreover, working remotely from California could have tax implications. California taxes all income earned within the state, regardless of the taxpayer’s residency. This means that even if you’re not a California resident, your employer might be required to withhold California state income tax on your wages if you’re performing work from within the state.

Try to discuss your situation with your employer. They may be able to offer a solution, such as a temporary assignment or a transfer to a California office, that complies with company policies and tax regulations.

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SavageCaveman13@reddit

if I bring my work laptop to CA and sign into the company VPN, will I be stopped by the system? And even if I’m able to log on, will IT somehow get notified that somebody is using a CA IP address? TIA.

Where you log in from has nothing to do with your residential address. You just need an address outside of California for your residence.

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jeffvader33@reddit

Love next to a border and connect to hotspot on otherside of the state line

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AnonABong@reddit

Get a VPN on your router and have it use a non-ca state so that all your traffic is coming from that address. But more than likely you are going to need a physical address in the state you live in. Or someone who is really cool with mailing you stuff.

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theepi_pillodu@reddit

Which city in cali? Obviously you would've thought if it is close to border, just stay outside the border lines of CA.

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aashay2035@reddit

If you Hotspot off your cell phone, att will randomly set your location around there datcenters.

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Snoo60665@reddit

California also has a ton of labor laws that make compliance a challenge. I work for a small company and we also exclude California.

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threwou@reddit

See if you can become a contractor. You might be able to get a pay bump this way

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chunky_lover92@reddit

You can VPN to a different state and then access your employer VPN from there.

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Affectionate-Pipe330@reddit

Get an apt (or a friend) in one of the other states. Leave a computer there and remote into that computer. Never tell anybody where you actually live. Especially the govt

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NapalmWave@reddit

Friend had this issue recently, they moved her to a W9 contractor and paid her more to cover the taxes and benefits she had to deal with herself. Worth an ask at your company if this is a possibility.

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xtrahandy@reddit

Was just about to suggest this.

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puresea88@reddit

Get a new girlfriend. Stay where you are

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bemused_alligators@reddit

Say you moved to Washington state (same time zone, no income tax).

Go on "vacation" to California for a week or two before the "move" but don't tell anyone at the company, see if anyone comes knocking about California IP address. If no one brings it up you're fine, if they do bring it up then get a VPN or your own and geolocate to a reasonable location in Washington before hooking up to the work one. Maybe also get a WA PO box or similar valid mailing address, and then find a way to forward mail to your house in Cali.

Lastly remember to pay California state income taxes and you're good to go .

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westyred@reddit

Can you find a dirt cheap apartment in your current state and just keep paying that?

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andy-3290@reddit

I think if you're talking about going to visit someone in California for a week or two, you're probably fine. If you mean live there and work there, yeah, don't do that. Would the VPN notice? Well it might.

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ample_mammal@reddit

ULPT request: committing tax fraud. FTFY

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Asleep_Measurement_6@reddit

maybe instead consider relationship from home?

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beauregrd@reddit

Do you have family/ friends you change the address of your paychecks/ home of record to?

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_TheShadowRealm@reddit

WFH out of California for a week or 2 in advance - see if anything gets raised by IT, claim ignorance if it does. Consider researching the possibility of some sort of special VPN setup on your home network that allows you to show as having an IP from an allowable state. Ensure your work laptops timezones are set to an allowable states timezone for extra assurance

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