This is a common question I get from clients and I feel it may become even more common now that CT has increased the income tax rate.
So what determines residency? In Connecticut, for income tax purposes you are considered a resident if you are either (a) domiciled in Connecticut or (b) not domiciled in Connecticut, but you maintain a residence and spend more than 183 days in Connecticut.
Your domicile is where you intend to have your permanent home or basically where you intend on returning whenever absent. Your place of domicile depends on your own specific facts and circumstances and some of the items the Department of Revenue will look at are where you vote or are registered to vote, where your mail is sent, where you are employed, where you own real property, where you own and register motor vehicles and where your bank accounts are located, etc.
Ok so you think you can pass as Florida being your place of domicile. But did you spend less than 183 days in Connecticut? Not sure? How will the Department of revenue even know where I spent my time? The answer is they wont have to know, it is your duty to prove it to them. The burden of proof is on the taxpayer to prove he or she has spent less than 183 days within the state. You better keep yourself a good calendar or log that details where you spent every single day of the year. More importantly, that log better be consistent with your credit card statements. If your log shows that you were in Florida but your credit card statement has you filling up your gas tank along I95 in New Haven you can expect that your “log” will be thrown out as a credible source of proof.
So the moral of the story is that you may be a Florida resident now that you have purchased that condo, however, be ready to substantiate it because the burden to prove your residence will be on you.
