State Tax Residency - How Serious Is It?
Since many of our clients are multi-state professionals, we go out of our way to stress how states are extremely aggressive in residency audits and how serious the state tax returns are. Some important reminders:
Do not use assignment addresses on any legal document.
Do not use assignment addresses on tax returns.
Avoid buying cars out of state unless you can tag it to your own.
Keep a copy of your contract in your car in case you are stopped.
The article linked below highlights the tools that state revenue agencies will use to conduct "Residency" audits. Ignore the political aspect of the article, and focus on this quote: “New York's success rate on audits can be attributed not only to the traditional methods of investigation like going through an individual’s credit card bills, but also to new high-tech tools that include tracking phone records, social media, and even veterinary and dentist records.” Here is the article: New York Residency Audits