State residency as expat??

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
October 19, 2023
2 replies
0 views

Hi - confused about state residency and state taxes.

Home state of NJ until sept 2022. Moved abroad since then.

Changed "mailing address" with some financial institutions etc to relative's home in NC.

Should I move all my addresses from NJ/NC to a virtual mailbox in FL? so i don't have to pay any state taxes for my US contract work and investment income? otherwise, tax forms like 1099 may show NJ/NC as the state.

Thanks!!

Not A Product Question

Employee

Employee

Your state tax obligations are based on where you live and on where your income is sourced.

If you owe state taxes, you cannot avoid them by simply changing your mailing address to a PO Box in a no-income-tax state like Florida. If that were possible, everyone would do it.

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.

P

pk12_2

Employee

@aa2014 not knowing all the facts and circumstances of your particular case, and hedging my bets , I would point that during my days as an expat in Brazil, I knew of a lot of American citizens, that moved their residency to TX or FL ( having a mail box there, and opening a bank account to show closer connection to that state). But they were working for a multinational entity. I don't know if they were ever challenged by the state of their earlier residency ( MI ). I generally agree with @TomD8 that it may or may not work --- because there is always the issue of intent ( did you change residency because of good reasons or just to avoid/evade state taxation while in fact retaining closer connection to your original state of residence ? ).

T

TomD8

Employee

A taxpayer who becomes domiciled in a foreign country would only owe state income tax if they had income sourced to that particular state.

For example, a taxpayer who makes a permanent move to Canada, but who owns rental property in New York State, would still owe New York State income tax on their net rental income. Changing their mailing address to a PO Box in Florida or Texas would have no effect on their income tax obligation to New York.

I might add that the IRS does not accept a PO Box mailing address on a tax return unless "your post office doesn't deliver mail to your home." See page 14 of the Instructions for Form 1040:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.