How long before you're considered a resident of a state?

[svanarts]

More dumb questions from the new guy. My dream is to work temp jobs for Robert Half or similar. They usually have temp jobs that last anywhere from 3 to 6 months. I'd like to work a job in a particular area and then move on to another area of the country and work there. These would be computer consulting jobs. But for those who have worked while full-timing, how long can I stay and work in a state before they consider me a resident of that state and start demanding I pay their income tax and register my vehicles there?

[tatest]

svanarts wrote:
So all these people who work while full-timing are becoming residents of the states they work in?

Yes. They may have a domicile in another state, but where they are living and working that state considers them a resident for tax purposes, and may require change of driver's license and vehicle registrations, the latter also a matter of collecting taxes.

Some exceptions? I'm in a border town that once had a major employer. About a quarter of our employees lived in Kansas and worked in Oklahoma. That they lived in Kansas did not keep them from getting citations for license tag violations when the police went through the employee parking lot, but they could straighten things out in court by bringing their proof of Kansas residence.

I kept my Oklahoma domicile while working overseas. I worked for employers in Norway, Egypt, China and Venezuela, and was paid through a shell company in the Caymans. I paid income taxes in every country where I worked, used those tax credits against my U.S. income taxes, but keeping my house meant I paid state income tax here too.

That's just Oklahoma, taxes based on residency. Other states, income taxes may be base on where earned. Some states have reciprocal agreements on these issues, others don't.

This is not a good place to get financial and legal advice, not even about residency, because every state is different, and what you get here about someone else's experience may not fit your situation.

Here is one possible way out. I have worked with consultants who work through an agency, such that they are employed by that agency, in the state (or country) where that agency is headquartered.

But most of the time this works because the consult is for a week or less. It did not work for me to be someplace two years and claim that I was working instead for a corporation in the Caymans. If I was working on something in Norway for as much as a week, Norway said I was working in Norway, no matter who was paying me. Since I did not have a legal residence nor a work permit, I would be considered to be working illegally. At least going from state to state in the U.S., you don't get into that part of the problem.

[holstein13]

I have been a Florida resident for 45 years now and have worked in plenty of states. I agree that you will most likely have to pay state income taxes in the states you have worked. Especially if Robert Half deducts your estimated taxes from your paycheck and pays worker's comp in each state. You will have to file tax returns simply to get a potential refund of the deducted taxes you will be paying every week.

In my case, I worked for 3 years for a company headquartered in North Carolina and they paid me no matter what state I was working in. Although they never deducted income taxes from my paycheck, NC made me file an income tax and prorate my total income by the number of nights I stayed in North Carolina.

The individual tax codes are very complex. Just imagine being a pro athlete and paying your taxes in each state. Take a look at this Forbes article on state taxes.

[Oldme]

Every state requirement is different.

Back in Va., when I was a LEO, the State required shipyard workers
who worked in Norfolk but had residences in N.C. to have a Va.
Operator License. Why? Because they had a full-time job in Va.
Per State Code they were required to have a Va. O/L.

I understated that it was finally changed after 40 years or so.

There is no blanket statement that covers all states.

[svanarts]

Thanks guys. Maybe I should just retire first. 🙂

[traveylin]

While working outside the US the company set up a forwarding mail address out of Connecticut. That was sufficient to cause Conn to ask that I pay the 8 percent income tax for the year even though I had not been in Conn physically. Tax attorney backed them off. But moral of story is that some states are very aggressive and will look to any paper trail to make you pay

[down_home]

svanarts wrote:
More dumb questions from the new guy. My dream is to work temp jobs for Robert Half or similar. They usually have temp jobs that last anywhere from 3 to 6 months. I'd like to work a job in a particular area and then move on to another area of the country and work there. These would be computer consulting jobs. But for those who have worked while full-timing, how long can I stay and work in a state before they consider me a resident of that state and start demanding I pay their income tax and register my vehicles there?

If you reside in Tn for ten days you are expected to change your Drivers license etc. So tat makes yo ua Resident I guess. If you show you are transient and stay less than six months I understand you are not a Resident. It is intent, I guess. Never been an issue between savannah and here. Someone could stir us some trouble and have to return to Tn for a short period.
Look at Florida everyone stays as long as they want aand goes home and seldom does Florida hassle them because they stayed too long Snowbird community pays for a lot of Florida govt and business.
Canadian have to pay attention sometimes. I have heard of some hassles at the borders.

[GoPackGo]

Consider the situation of the NFL players. They end up paying taxes in several states - every state they play a game in.

So it's always good (tax wise) for the Raiders players when they play the Dolphins in Miami !

[svanarts]

That is great info, thanks!

[phillyg]

I used to be in the business of advising folks about domicile/residency. The differences between states are great and I haven't kept up for several years. It's best if you maintain an address in the state you believe and intend to be your legal domicile. Register to vote, have its driver's license, pay taxes, have professional connections, even a library card, all of which can help prove your domicile if questioned.

Under the circumstances you provide, your employment taxing state needs to be established up front. Perhaps the human resources department (except as noted below) of your employer at the moment can assist or send you in the right direction. One thing that is important in domicile is your intent. For example, do you intend to be a resident of state A, but work temporarily in state B with no intent to reside in state B for more than C days, and be able to prove it? You will definitely have to check out each state's domicile requirements. When I recently moved to FL from VA, I found FL's requirements online rather easily.

Quick story about how things can get screwed up. I changed jobs within the US govt. in 2010 while I was a resident of VA. Some knucklehead human resources person coded my state tax withholding to go to MA. I only discovered it after over $4,000 was sent to MA. I just received last week a check from MA for the full amount. MA is very aggressive about collecting their taxes and insisted I earned wages there in 2010 (I haven't been in MA for over 30 years). The amount of paperwork and evidence I had to provide MA was extensive and at one point I though the money was gone for good. The moral of the story is to always ensure you line up everything up front so you never, ever get into a situation as did I.

[hitchup]

We've been filing as many as 3-5 states each year for the last 10 years of fulltiming. But only one state is our residence and the rest are filed as non-residents. Very few issues, except with Kansas in 2013. To get a $7 refund, they wanted ALL State and Federal Tax returns and W2s. Ignored it since it would have cost more than $7 to get all the paperwork together. Missed the letter that they would disallow our KS Withholding and we would owe them as FL UPS Store didn't forward our mail on time.

Finally got it straightened out this year. But had to pay $50 (because it went past due date) for them to review it and will be getting an $8+ check in the mail next week.

Forgot to mention: projects last anywhere from 3-8 mos. But they usually roll over into a 2nd year, so have to file two years in a row in some states.

[Roadpilot]

HappyKayakers wrote:
Yep, you'll have to pay state income taxes wherever you work. Every state I've had to file for had options for part-time or non-residents. Be careful about the states you work in. Some may want to tax you on all your income, or at least with a formula based on all your income.

As far as being considered a resident, vehicle registration, etc, I believe that is determined based on intent. If you're working for a temp agency, your intent is not to stay there permanently. Your house has wheels. You have a permanent address in another state and/or a domicile letter.

This is a very good answer.

[WyoTraveler]

svanarts wrote:
So all these people who work while full-timing are becoming residents of the states they work in?

Not everybody gets caught. There was a post here about 2 or 3 years ago. An RVer was driving in NV and happened to get stopped, don't recall for what reason. He told the officer he was work camping at a park. He got cited for no NV drivers license and no NV registration on his vehicle. JMHO. If he had just said he was on vacation it probably would have ended there. Sometimes best to say nothing.

[svanarts]

That's what I'm finding out. TurboTax seems to be the way to go as it does all the calculations for you. Especially when you owe more than one state taxes and have to apportion them and... yuck. It gets complicated.

Hopefully all this info will help folks who may be searching for the same info. I'm still 17 years away from retirement so I have to keep on working.

[jorbill2or]

I know at least in Oregon if you earn money here , we have a healthy income tax , you must file a non resident income tax statement and pay Oregon taxes on what you earned here. You probably already did by payroll deduction . I'm sure every state is different and would require a different answer depending on their tax laws.