RESIDENCY & DOMICILE AUDITS
A taxpayer who moves to Florida stops paying income tax to the state left behind. That state frequently disagrees, and it has years in which to say so.
Residency audits are among the most document-intensive disputes in state tax. They are also among the most winnable, for taxpayers who built a record at the time of the move — and among the least, for taxpayers who did not.
You moved. Your former state disagrees.
A residency audit reconstructs a life from records. The question is whether yours were kept.
Scheduling does not create an attorney-client relationship. No such relationship exists until the firm has run a conflicts check and both sides have signed a written engagement agreement.
TWO INDEPENDENT TESTS
Most states apply two, and satisfying one is not a defense to the other.
Domicile is the place a person intends as a permanent home, the place returned to. Changing it requires both physical presence in the new state and the abandonment of the old domicile. It is a question of intent, proved by conduct rather than by declaration.
Statutory residency ignores intent entirely. It typically asks whether the taxpayer maintained a permanent place of abode in the state and spent more than a defined number of days there. A taxpayer can be genuinely domiciled in Florida and still be taxed as a resident elsewhere by counting days.
WHAT THE AUDITOR ACTUALLY EXAMINES
Not the declaration of domicile. The pattern of life. Where the days were spent, proved by phone records, tolls, credit card activity, and travel; the relative size, value, and use of homes in each state; where near-and-dear items were kept; where business activity was conducted and directed; and where family, physicians, advisors, and religious and social affiliations remained.
The audit reconstructs a life from records. The taxpayer who kept none is reconstructing it from memory, against an auditor who has the records.
THE FIRM’S POSITION
Northeast investors and families establishing Florida residency and Florida real estate holdings are a core part of this practice. The firm advises on the move — the documentation, the day count, the disposition or retention of the former residence — and defends the position when the departure state examines it. Where the departure state is Massachusetts, the procedure is mapped on the Massachusetts tax appeals page.
The best time to build a residency file is the year of the move. The second-best time is now.
WHAT THE FIRM DOES
Defends the examination
against the state you left, on the facts as the records actually show them.
Builds and audits the record
contemporaneous day count, domicile evidence, and the gaps in both.
Coordinates the filings
part-year and non-resident returns, with your compliance advisor.
Advises before the move
while the file can still be built correctly rather than reconstructed.
A residency audit reconstructs a life from records. The taxpayer who kept none reconstructs it from memory.
HOW AN ENGAGEMENT BEGINS
Book a free consultation
Thirty minutes, no charge. Bring the notice — we read it together on that call.
The deadline is identified
Which notice it is, what it asserts, and which forums are still open behind it.
Conflicts check and written engagement
Scope and fee agreed in writing before any work begins.
HOW A CONTROVERSY RESOLVES
The firm takes over
Correspondence with the Service runs through the firm. You stop answering.
The position is built and pressed
Records, authority, and the argument — pressed at the earliest stage that will take it, because that is the cheapest place to win.
Resolution
Closed at examination, settled at Appeals on the hazards, or tried. The firm does not hand the file to anyone to reach the last of those.
A residency position is defended with the record built at the time of the move. Contact the firm through the contact page or call (561) 529-5873. Representative engagements are described on the Experience page.