No State Income Tax: Domicile Rules NY vs. FL
What it really takes to break NY tax residency and establish Florida domicile (days, ties, filings, affidavits)
Moving from New York to Florida can meaningfully lower your annual tax bill—but only if you properly change your residency. That means two parallel tasks: (1) stop being taxed as a New York resident, and (2) start being recognized as a Florida domiciliary. Here’s the plain-English playbook.
Quick definitions (so you know the goal)
Domicile (NY): Your one true, permanent home—the place you intend to return to and stay. New York looks at your actions (not just your words) to decide where that is. (Legal Information Institute)
Statutory resident (NY): Even if your domicile is elsewhere, NY can still tax you as a resident if, in a tax year, you (a) maintain a permanent place of abode in NY and (b) spend enough days in the state (the classic “183-day rule”). (NY Tax Department)
Domicile (FL): Your fixed, permanent home in Florida, which you can formally evidence with a recorded Declaration of Domicile (an affidavit) at your county clerk’s office. (Online Sunshine)
Part 1 — How to break New York residency
New York audits focus on two paths: changing domicile and avoiding statutory residency.
A) Prove your domicile moved out of NY
Auditors weigh your overall life pattern—especially five big factors often called the “primary factors”:
Home (comparative size, value, and use of your NY vs. FL homes)
Active business ties (where you actively run things)
Time (how you actually spend your year)
“Near-and-dear” items (where you keep prized personal possessions)
Family connections (especially school-age children)
Your story should show that Florida—not New York—is now the center of gravity. Move the “near-and-dear” items, rebalance business activity, and spend the majority of your quality time in Florida. Keep contemporaneous records. (NY Tax Department)
B) Avoid statutory residency
To prevent NY from treating you as a resident even after you’ve moved your domicile, you generally must:
Not maintain a permanent place of abode in NY (or ensure it no longer qualifies as “maintained” for you), and
Keep your day count below NY’s statutory threshold for the year. Track days meticulously (using calendars, phone/location data, and travel records). (NY Tax Department)
Pro tip: A “permanent place of abode” is a real legal term—NY defines and interprets it in guidance. Understand that definition before you keep a pied-à-terre. (NY Tax Department)
Part 2 — How to establish Florida domicile (and prove it)
Florida doesn’t tax personal income, but you still need to build a paper trail that shows Florida is truly home:
File a Declaration of Domicile (affidavit) with your county clerk. This publicly records Florida as your permanent home. (Online Sunshine)
Get a Florida driver's license and register vehicles quickly (new residents are expected to update within 30 days). (Florida Highway Safety)
Claim Florida Homestead Exemption on your primary residence (and, when applicable, use “Save Our Homes”/portability). County property appraisers will ask for Florida residency evidence. (Online Sunshine)
Register to vote in Florida; move your banking, doctors, clubs, safe-deposit box, and professional licenses.
Update estate documents (wills/trusts/POAs) to reflect Florida domicile; change your mailing address for IRS, SSA, and key institutions.
The goal is consistency: your legal, financial, and personal “ties” should all point to Florida.
Filings you’ll likely make during the transition
In your move year, you typically file a New York part-year or nonresident return (Form IT-203) to report only NY-source income for the nonresident period (plus full-year NY income while you were resident). In later years, if you’ve cleanly broken residency, you file IT-203 only if you still have NY-source income (e.g., a rental). (NY Tax Department)
A simple checklist (NY ➜ FL)
Stop looking like a NY resident
Give up (or truly stop “maintaining”) a NY permanent place of abode
Keep your NY day count below statutory thresholds
Move near-and-dear items, change your “home base” patterns
Shift business decision-making and club/association ties out of NY (NY Tax Department)
Start looking like a FL domiciliary
File Declaration of Domicile (county clerk)
Obtain FL driver's license and vehicle registration (timely)
File Homestead Exemption; keep residency proofs handy
Register to vote, update banks/medical/insurance, revise estate docs (Online Sunshine)
Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)
Keeping a turnkey NY home you regularly use—while claiming Florida domicile. If it looks and functions like a primary home, expect questions about “permanent place of abode.” (NY Tax Department)
Sloppy day tracking. NY audits rely heavily on day counts. Use apps, flight receipts, phone records, and calendars to document your presence. (NY Tax Department)
Inconsistent paperwork. Your driver's license, voter reg, doctors, clubs, mailing address, and homestead filing should all say Florida—and say it early. (Florida Highway Safety)
Bottom line
To capture Florida’s no state income tax benefit, you need a clean NY exit and a well-documented Florida entry. That means (1) change your domicile and avoid statutory residency traps, and (2) build a consistent, provable Florida life—affidavit, licenses, homestead, and everyday ties.
If you’d like, I can turn this into a personalized residency game plan: a day-count tracker, NY-vs-FL document checklist, and a timeline to file the right forms at the right times.
Fernanda Stucken — Tampa Bay Realtor
📧 contact@fernandastucken.com | 📞 (347) 216-6620
Disclaimer: This is educational, not legal or tax advice. Always consult a CPA or tax attorney about your specific situation.
