Consistent maintaining your state of legal residence can be a little extra work, but it’s important to do it.
Legal offices and financial counselors have been saying it for years. You have to demonstrate, through your actions, that you are intending to maintain your legal residence in the state you’re calling home for tax purposes.
There are military service members and family members who insist that it doesn’t matter. They figure that because no one has ever challenged them, the legal and financial folks are just being alarmist. But just because something doesn’t happen to you, or your friend, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
What Does Happen
It’s true that relatively few military folks have their state of legal residence challenged. But it does happen. (Heck, we got a tax bill for 2010 from Maryland in 2018. Go figure. My husband didn’t even really LIVE in Maryland in 2010. He was stationed in Norfolk and then we moved to Italy.)
It’s hard to defend yourself against that challenge if your actions don’t demonstrate your intent to remain a resident in that state. Let’s say you have a driver’s license in one state, car registration in another, and you’re voting in a third state. What if none of which are the place where you’re living? Or claiming to be a resident?
In one case, a service member was stationed in Virginia but was claiming to be a resident of Texas. Virginia came knocking, asking for state taxes. The service member had, over the years, gotten a Virginia driver’s license, registered to vote in Virginia, and purchased a house in Virginia. Ultimately, he was unable to prove that he had maintained ties to Texas. As such, he was liable for many years of past Virginia state taxes.
Under the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act, active duty military members don’t give up their state of legal residence if they move on PCS orders. The Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018, permits military spouses to “use” their active duty husband or wife’s state of legal residence for purposes of taxes and voting. These are great protections for people who don’t always control where they live.
Why It Matters Now
Being inconsistent makes it possible for the state where you’re physically residing to think that you “live” there. States are interested in making sure they collect taxes from the people who owe them. Advanced data sharing helps states see where any individual is voting, registering their cars, and maintaining their driver’s licenses. As data sharing continues to expand, we will see more challenges for folks who are claiming legal residence in a state without backing that claim up with concrete actions.
You need to remain proactive about maintaining everything possible in your state of legal residence. This includes declaring that state in your will, renewing your driver’s licenses there*, maintaining vehicle registrations, registering to vote (and actually voting), and any other things that come your way. (*Assuming you aren’t stationed in a state that requires you to change.) It’s often a little bit more work, and sometimes it is a little more expensive. But that’s a small price to pay for being able to prove that you’ve been maintaining your state of legal residence all along.
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Hi Katie – looking for some guidance on my own specific scenario. I am a Florida resident (vehicles registered and insured here, registered to vote here, etc) and I will be relocating with my active duty spouse to NC next month due to his military orders. NC is a state that I am not required to change my drivers license to, so would you suggest I keep my vehicle registered and insured in Florida as well even though we’re being temporarily relocated to NC? I understand the vehicle being registered in FL, but I would think I’m required to insure my car in the state it’s parked, so in this case soon to be NC? And advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Your vehicle must always be insured where it is parked. Otherwise, I would keep everything in Florida. We have maintained our Florida driver’s licenses for 27 years, and we make sure we always vote. We’ve had to register our vehicles overseas, but otherwise we keep them registered in Florida. Our wills say that we are Florida residents. It can be a hassle, but it is very important to me that I am consistent 🙂
Hope your move goes smoothly.
You are soooo helpful, thank you! One last question – what do you have listed as your Florida driver’s license address? Right now mine reflects the apartment we live in in Florida, but when we move to North Carolina we will have a new address and our address in Florida won’t be current. How are you ensuring your Florida registration and license are updated to reflects your new out of state address?
I’m not 100% sure about the process, but the Florida DMV asks you to update your address. You have to present some proof, like a utility bill or something, and they’ll change the address.
You make some great points about having some ties to the state your claiming. I think it can fall into a tricky slope if you’re getting the perks but not bringing in revenue. They actually will track you down. When I was a California resident but living in Japan they sent vehicle registration notices to my APO box.