Should I become a NY resident?

October 20, 2005 8:38 AM

Should I become a NY resident? This is mainly a tax question.

I just started a job at a NY law firm and have been living here for a month. I was in school in CT for the last three years but I think am still a CA resident. (I was born, went to college, and lived just a few months ago in CA. I have a CA driver's license.) I've been told that I should change my residency to NY so I don't get double-taxed. Should I do this? Another problem is that I might move back to CA sometime in the future. Should I worry about this? Also, how hard is the procedure? I've heard the downsides are just: (1) You have to mail your license and thus need your passport to get into bars; (2) $30-ish. What do you think?

posted by kensanway to law & government (16 comments total)

If you live in New York, you are a New York resident. Once you're there for a set amount of time (usually 30 days, I think), voting in California or continuing to use your old license become illegal. You can avoid becoming a resident of a place if you are a student, but as far as I'm aware that's the only reason. Unless you actually still spend at least half of your year in California, you're legally obligated to change your residence.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:58 AM on October 20, 2005

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I second kensanway's question about the process- how does it go, exactly?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:05 AM on October 20, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

Doesn't matter where you were born, went to college, used to live, or have a driver's license. Once you live in a new state for that state's statutorily determined length of time, as croutonsupafreak said, you are legally obligated to change your residence.

Under NY law: It shall be presumptive evidence that a person who maintains a place of abode in this state for a period of at least ninety days is a resident of this state.

posted by amro at 9:08 AM on October 20, 2005

Why do you think you have to mail your license anywhere? New York's DMV seems to think that to get a NY license you surrender your CA license in person as you take your vision test to get your NY state one.

And yes, if you truly are living and working in NY, in general you're legally required to get a NY license and change where you're registered to vote--which you do by registering in NY.

If you have a car, you'll also have to retitle it in NY and register it there. In terms of taxes, you'll file a NY state return for 2005 and possibly a CA one as well, depending on how they define such things. Some states allow you do some prorating of residency, some don't. You'll have to go through their instruction pages.
posted by skynxnex at 9:11 AM on October 20, 2005

No offense kensanway, but you went to law school at Yale and can't check the legal requirements out for yourself?
posted by amro at 9:11 AM on October 20, 2005

Yeah, I'd thought the limit was 90 days. I guess my question is about: Do I need to assertively change my residency or is it presumed? I'm assuming the former, but that also has more bureaucracy. I know you can change your residency online, but you also have to send in your driver's license.
posted by kensanway at 9:12 AM on October 20, 2005

Where can you change your residency online? Attempts to google on my part have failed. Thanks.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:15 AM on October 20, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

No offense kensanway, but you went to law school at Yale and can't check the legal requirements out for yourself?

I could look it up, but it would probably take me longer than using the askmefi heuristic. This isn't just in my self-interest, but the overall social waste is probably lower, both because other people can answer this question much more efficiently than I can and because other people (like ThePinkSuperhero) can benefit from this question as well.

Anyways, a new haven degree is usually used as proof of the opposite (i.e., complete lack of actual legal knowledge). Want to know about proportionality balancing, Chinese copyright traditions, or Raz's theory of authority? Maybe then I can be of use!

Where can you change your residency online? Attempts to google on my part have failed. Thanks.

I'm going to talk to a colleague about this at lunch...
posted by kensanway at 9:19 AM on October 20, 2005

Amro, this question is helping me as well. So, put up or shut up.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:22 AM on October 20, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

A presumption is not a conclusive determination. They can be rebutted.

Legally, residence of a particular state is determined by intent - whether you intend to stay permanently or indefinitely. Staying for college probably won't make you a resident; holding down a law firm job (and presumably, taking the NY Bar) would be evidence of your intent to stay.

However, you said: "Another problem is that I might move back to CA sometime in the future." If you think this is VERY likely, you may still be a New York resident for all practical purposes.

But really, you asked a tax question, and here's the likely tax answer:

If you're living in NY and working in NY, you should be taxed in NY and not in CA, regardless of whether you "become a resident" of NY.

What state is your law firm currently withholding taxes for in your paycheck? If that's not where you live, then you ought to have that changed and make sure you get that money back at tax time.
posted by mikewas at 9:27 AM on October 20, 2005

OK, here's a yale-ish answer for ya:

I don't think there's any way to officially change one's state "residency" status by filing papers; it's more of a constructive than a formal status, with different functions (e.g., voting, driving, jurisdiction, probate) having different rules for determining "residence" or "domicile." If what you're concerned about is getting taxed in CA, then you need to look at that function in particular.
posted by footnote at 9:33 AM on October 20, 2005

Yeah, other than getting a driver's license, registering your car, signing up to vote and filing taxes in New York, rather than California, there's nothing you need to do.

Each of these steps is separate, though I'm going to guess you can do the licence/registration/vote stuff all at once.

There's no national registry of state residences or anything like that.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 10:07 AM on October 20, 2005

As a resident of NYS, I can also tell you that when you re-title your car, you can also expect to pay NYS sales tax on the car too. Yes, even if you paid some other state's sales tax when you bought it.

There are a few exceptions with misc states, and you can (sometimes) fill out a form from your previous state to get your tax back, but they make it sound like this rarely is successful.
posted by Wild_Eep at 10:17 AM on October 20, 2005

If you were a CA resident for >6 months, you might well have CA tax you on your entire year's income, including NY income, as well as NY taxing you on your NY income. I ran into this with VA and NC, both wanted to tax my NC income. Presumably there's some complicated way to use deductions on both forms to avoid double-taxation, but those only come into play if you're itemizing deductions to start with.

If you're a lawyer and making good money, you might want to contact an accountant; there's got to be accountants in NY who know a lot about dealing with "immigrants" from CA.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:38 AM on October 20, 2005

If you live in New York, you are a New York resident. Once you're there for a set amount of time (usually 30 days, I think), voting in California or continuing to use your old license become illegal.

It's actually not that simple. As we are the United STATES of America, the states get to make the rules on this for the most part. For example, voting: While it would be illegal for you to "double-dip" in a presidential election, it's up to the state to decide who they wish to allow to help them cast their electoral votes. They might decide you have to live there 30 consecutive days in the year, be living there Jan 1, any number of things so long as none are in violation of the voting rights act.

Now, at the same time your current state can mandate certain things and almost certainly does, like having a driver's license from them within a certain period - as others have pointed out. Some of those may be at direct odds with doing things like keeping voting rights or a driver's licence in CA, but conflict of laws from state to state is a very complicated issue and there's a lot of unmapped territory there.

Which is why I throw no stones at kensanway for not knowing the answer; most law grads get a pretty slender amount of schooling on the subject.
posted by phearlez at 10:47 AM on October 20, 2005

To change your driver's license, go to the NY DMV and hand them your old license. They will take a picture of you and hand you a new license. If there's no line at the time you choose to do this, it is a 15 minute procedure, if that.

Don't retitle your car. There's no reason to do so. Just register it.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:50 PM on October 21, 2005