Establishing a Domicile

raymondfl wrote:


A domicile is your dedicated home state, it can be almost anywhere you choose. The only problem is if a state decides it would like to determine that in fact you are domiciled in that state and they start to levy taxes upon you. Florida has always been a haven for northeastern residents to flock too, and as long as the rules are obeyed it is no problem. Of course you file your domicile papers in any state you like, but for my example, Florida will work as well as any. After you file your papers, get drivers license, register to vote, change your insurance you declare you have a Florida domicile, only trouble is that you go back to New York for 184 days a year. It does not matter what you did in Florida, the rules in New York say that if you are in the state for more than 1/2 the year then your domicile is NEW YORK. PERIOD. Does not matter what you did in Florida. This is also true I am sure in Minnesota, New Jersey and California. Because you try, you must actually be. Any less and the laws of the state you are in will be upheld. And I do mean it gets done to counting days. MN actually counts as a full day any day that you are in the state.
So if you would like to become a SD domicile, SD says you only need to be there one day. Great, you qualify under SD law. BUT if you spend 183 days in Florida, then your domicile is Florida. If you buy a new motorhome you would owe sales tax in Florida. Pick any other state, I do not know for sure but logic says that if you spend more than 1/2 year in that state, then you are domiciled there. And yes it could get as dumb as being domiciled in different states every year. Now what I have just spelled out may be the legal answer, but in practically it is really hard for the states to follow all of this, it really only comes to light if the state wants to press it, wants to collect income tax, sales tax etc. As for myself, I would like my wife to become a SD domicile, buy a new motorhome and register it in SD. But we have to be real careful as to the number of days we spend in Florida. She will qualify for SD because we will spend a night there, but then we have to make sure she is not in Florida for more the the required time, and Florida is getting worst about this because they want the sales tax, ask friend who just payed sales tax on new Prevost who thought he had system beat!!
So just a word of caution, just because you think your domicile is a certain state, don't give any other state a claim to you.
And please don't say you have always done it this way and no one has said anything, all that means is no one has questioned, when they do that is the painful time because you will lose. Don't forget there are just not that many audits or questions about your domicile until at the crucial moment when you least expect it, it pops up, be prepared and do it right and sleep tight.

We have some first hand experience since DH has been working in multiple states for 30 years, nearly 10 of it while Full-timing. We're in one location from 2wk-7mos depending on the project. Employer always takes State Income Tax out of DH's paycheck and we file in multiple states as Non-Resident at Tax time. None of the states have ever come back to say we need to refile as Residents.

We used FL for the first 8 years, but have switched back to our previous state because that's where we will eventually retire. Also decided there's no tax advantage for us in FL. In fact, Fulltime Insurance costs and Tag Fees dropped and Sales Tax is lower than FL.