homes in two states

[baumgartner-chuc]

My wife and I live divide our time between a home in Florida (more than 6 months) where we are now residents and one in New York State (less than 6 months).   We both have pension and social security income all of which was earned when we were NYS residents.  Do I need to file a NYS tax return on any of this income?    Same question on any money withdrawn from an IRA.

Thanks 

Charles

[Laura_CPA]

Dear Charles,

Hope all is well with you! You might have a filing requirement in NY since you have NY source income and a permanent place in NY. If you spend 184 days or more, you would file as a NY Resident. Please see the following link for a description of Resident, Part-Year Resident and Nonresident (https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/pit_definitions.htm#nonresident). 

Of course FL doesn't have an income tax filing requirement as it is considered a non-taxing state. Hope this information helps you. 

Cheers,

Laura 

[VegasTaxMan · Accepted solution]

Hi @baumgartner-chuc . Here is what the state of NY says:

You may be subject to tax as a resident even if your domicile is not New York.

You are a New York State resident if your domicile is New York State OR:

• you maintain a permanent place of abode in New York State for substantially all of the taxable year; and
• you spend 184 days or more in New York State during the taxable year. Any part of a day is a day for this purpose, and you do not need to be present at the permanent place of abode for the day to count as a day in New York.

In general, a permanent place of abode is a building or structure where a person can live that you permanently maintain and is suitable for year-round use. It does not matter whether you own it or not. 

additionally: if you spent less than 184 days in NY, but more than 30 days, you would be considered a Part-Year Resident and file a NY Part-Year resident return.

NY does not tax Social Security, or most NY derived Pensions.

As far as IRA withdrawals, any non-deductible portion would be subject to tax with the following caveat:

New York State and New York City Tax Exemption:

Withdrawals from the NYCE IRA are eligible for a $20,000 annual New York State and New York City income tax exemption. This $20,000 exemption is applied against the cumulative distributions from a private employer retirement plan, a 401(k) plan, 457 plan or 403(b) plan, or other traditional IRAs. The exemption applies only to distributions taken as periodic payments to New York residents who are at least age 59½ and is in addition to the state income tax exemption for benefit payments received from the state or local employees’ public retirement systems.

I hope that helps 🙂