Questions on State Residency

[Guest lovelacm]

Here's the word straight from the horse's mouth: www.myflorida.com

Florida Residency FAQ

Also.. for those that don't want to follow the link - Here's a quick quote from the info that's on the page:

See these sections of the Florida Statutes (https://www.leg.state.fl.us)

Section 222.17 (homestead exemption)

Section 1009.21 (residency requirements for tuition and state financial aid for education)

Section 196.015

Section 372.57

Cheers!

Linda

[Vetter]

I did this a few months ago after going through PIT. The law states that you need an INTENT to reside there after you get out of military service. Getting the drivers licenses, voting, all that shit, is only recommended to show your intent, but it's not required.

[Guest Crusty21]

There are also some states (OH is one of them) that waive income taxes for active duty military who live out-of-state. All you need to do is fill out the appropriate paperwork at your finance office (you may need to repeat this process several times, because finance paperwork tends to disappear into thin air about 69% of the time), and you can keep your drivers license, plates, voting, etc. I have stayed an OH resident throughout my entire career, and this proved to be especially beneficial in the 2004 presidential election when my home county garnered national attention for the deciding votes. Made me feel like my vote really counted.

CRUSTY

[Guest newflyer]

Keep copies of EVERYTHING. Had a crusty old Col tell me about what happened to him. He was from California and went to UPT (at Vance I think) and almost 20 years later gets tracked down by the state of Cal and told of huge fines/penalties because he didn't pay his state income taxes. He had kept his LES's and taxes for all of these years and made his ass pain less and saved his money. From what he could figure if he didn't have his records he would have been liable for the cash.

Plus you never know when finance may make a mistake, not that they ever do (reference Vetter's thread on the fun of flying/pissy attitude of some support folks)

[Guest Brewdog]

Unless something's changed since I left in 2004, all you have to do is go to your pay office and switch your W-4 to FL. That simple. The only other flack I ever got in FL was when I would go get new tabs on my car, the people would always say "you know you're required to get a FL driver's license." I never did of course and I lived there 95 to 98 and 2000 to 2004. Just make sure (as the all so informative AFN PSA's say: you may forfeit some of your veterans benifits in your home state should you switch simply to avoid state income tax)

I wrote the above assuming you had PCS orders. I'm an ass. Still though, with a Florida address and DL you should have no probs just check what you may be missing benefit wise from Virginia.

[ 09. April 2006, 15:21: Message edited by: Brewdog ]

[war007afa]

Double check Virginia's rules, though. I've heard nothing but bad things about the state's take on taxes and exemptions. Also, if you want to claim a homestead exemption in FL (if you buy a house), you have to have DL, tags for all of your vehicles, and voter registration.

[Hotel]

Are these residency rules the same for a Reservists?

[Bergman]

Originally posted by Hotel:

Are these residency rules the same for a Reservists?

The rules to be a resident are the same. However, that will only work as long as you are on full-time reserve orders (UPT, UNT, FTU, etc). Once you get back to home drome and go to part-time status, you normally have 30 days (depending on which state) to declare residency there if that's where you live.

[brabus]

THREAD REVIVAL:

So come to find out, Finance fvcked up (gee, what a surprise) and does not have any state on my LES for tax purposes, so I have to obviously claim a state. I'm still confused on this whole FL thing. I've read here, searched google, etc. and still can't seem to find the straight info. Sure the form at Finance is just puting "FL" in the box (sts), but I would think that's not legal unless I'm actually a FL resident. Yeah Finance could give two shits about it, but I don't want some tax guy coming after me years down the road. Florida's various websites just don't seem to have very clear info. I hear some people say you just need to vote there, others say you need property, etc. And if it matters, I've NEVER resided in FL, gone to school there, etc. Is it still possible to somehow get residency there, but hopefully still keep my CO driver licence, tags, etc?

[Scooter14]

brabus,

Let your conscience be your guide

[PET-Shot]

You can not randomly declare a state your state of residence. You must have some connection to that state to claim residence there (whether it be living there, going to school there, being stationed there, have a DL from there or vehicle registered there, etc). While you probably will not be prevented from claiming that state with finance, it could one day bite you in the butt. I don't know to what extent you could be punished, but you do not want a black mark on your file for tax fraud or evasion - or something along those lines.

Shoot an email to a JAG.

[ 26. October 2006, 10:50: Message edited by: PET-Shot ]

[brabus]

While you probably will not be prevented to claiming that state with finance, it could one day bite you in the butt

Exactly. We'll see what I can find...I just would hate to get hit with a huge amount of taxes since apparently I haven't had any taken out for several months.

[Herk Driver]

I checked into this when I was a 2Lt which was more than a decade ago, but this was the JAG advice that I got.

You have to have a physical presence in whatever state that you claim as your residence and an INTENT to remain there.

How do you show intent? You register to vote, get a DL, register your car, buy property, etc. You do not have to do any of those things but it helps if someone challenges your residency like the case mentioned earlier about the guy from CA.

You are not required to do any of the things that the state requires to establish residency, since you fall under the SCRA. IIRC, the servicemembers civil relief act actually spells out teh residency thing. If not, you can pop into the JAG office and they can explain it all.

Yes, finance only requires a form but that doesn't make it legal. That only gets the money part fixed and you can still be tried for tax evasion, etc.

The story about the CA Col is actually funny since CA doesn't require servicemembers to pay taxes on income earned while stationed outside of the state. So, that's a little fishy if you ask me.

However, there have been states that have gone after servicemembers exactly like described. For example, if you are from VA and move to FL under military orders you could change your residency to FL. You could move a dozen more times and keep your residency in FL. However, when you retire, if you move back to VA, they will more than likely come after you for back taxes since they could make a pretty strong case that you INTENDED to retire in VA and only changed residency to aviod taxes. There have been cases like this. So, just figure out now that you will retire in FL or TX or at least not return to your original HOR state.

[brabus]

Well here's what I think I'm going to do...my parents are moving to CA in January (they already have owned the house there for 2-3 yrs and have been renting). I'm going to put that address for CA residency, so guess I'm good for now. I know my parents are willing the house to me, so I could use that as proof that I intend to maintain ownership of that property (once that time comes). Realistically at this point, I don't have a clue where I'm going to retire. I guess I have my leaning towards CO...but how can they come after me tax wise 20 yrs down the road; how was I supposed to know FOR SURE I was going to retire in CO and not CA? That seems to be a pretty flimsy basis to go after me on. And even if I do move to CO after retiring, there's no saying I won't eventually then move to that CA property later on (pretty much what my parents have actually done).

[Guest Robes]

Originally posted by joe1234:

You might have to just bite the bullet and pay taxes now. You can claim to live in whatever state you want, but when the IRS comes after you, you better have your ass covered legally. Ignorance of the law doesn't hold up in court.

Not to spilt hairs, but the IRS will not be coming after you, unless you are doing messing with your federal taxes... Bad Mojo!

FWIW: As a new person to the system... keep your 'residency' where it is now to avoid headaches and possible lost sleep. There are a lot of Shithouse lawyers in the military, but remember it is your arse on the line if anything is not kosher! Go where you feel comfortable!

Robes

[Herk Driver]

Brabus,

Go talk to a JAG or if you don't trust them then get a civilian guy to weigh in. CA does NOT make you pay taxes if you are military and not stationed in the state. At least that was the case 5 years ago. If you are stationed there, you will have to pay taxes while you are there, period. Then if you retire there, you will pay taxes after retirement but no one will be knocking on your door for failure to pay taxes while AD. If you don't retire there, then no big deal, you didn't owe CA anything to start with since you weren't stationed in the state.

[ 27. October 2006, 01:47: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

[HossHarris]

For what it's worth ... I've been an "official" resident of TX for the last 10 years or so. No state income tax, no yearly paperwork to file, and generally very easy to work with when you aren't actually in TX for voter registration, car tags/titles, etc (especially if you deal with a county with lots of military like Bexar). They do, however, have sales tax (registering/titleing new cars).