Dutch Resident Owes California Tax on Construction Consulting

A consultant who worked on construction projects in California while living abroad owes state franchise tax on his earnings, the California Office of Tax Appeals ruled in an opinion released Monday.

Netherlands-based Coen Suurs earned $106,000 in 2020 while retained by Pan-Pacific Mechanical LLC to provide various subcontract services for construction projects in California. California may tax that income because Suurs was carrying on a unitary business inside and outside California as a self-employed worker operating outside the state with customers there, Administrative Law Judge Teresa A. Stanley wrote in a nonprecedential opinion.

A California appeals court ruled last ...