I lived in Washington state in 2019, but I am not a resident of Washington, I am a resident of Ohio. Where should I say I live?

[GiseleD · Accepted solution]

It depends on your situation. Below are the Ohio residency rules; they will help you determine residency for tax purposes:

Resident 

An individual is a resident if domiciled in Ohio for the entire year.

Part-year resident 

An individual is a part-year resident if he or she permanently moved into or out of Ohio during 2019.

Nonresident 

A nonresident is an individual who was domiciled outside of Ohio for the entire year. An individual will be presumed not to be domiciled in Ohio if an accurate statement of Ohio nonresidency, Form IT NRS, is filed by October 15 of the following year, and attests that he or she:

• Had no more than 212 contact periods with Ohio during the taxable year,

• Had an abode outside of Ohio for the entire taxable year, on which depreciation deduction was not claimed,

• Did not hold an Ohio driver’s license or identification card at any time during the taxable year,

• Did not claim the homestead exemption and/or the owner occupancy property tax reduction for an Ohio property during the taxable year, and

• Did not claim to be an Ohio resident for the purpose of obtaining “in state” tuition at an Ohio institution of higher education.

[maryclairewillis]

I lived in Washington the whole time but still used my Ohio driver’s license?? I still need a clearer answer... should i file in Washington (where i lived), Ohio (where my ID is from), or Oregon (where I worked)

[DaveF1006]

Here is the criteria for establishing legal residence in a state. All of these requirements do not need to be met.

Determining State Residency for Income Tax Purposes

1. Voter registration.
2. Vehicle registration.
3. State where you have your driver's license.
4. Location of your bank.
5. Location of your legal and medical professionals.
6. Location of any business that you own and operate.
7. Contact periods with a state.
8. Location of your property.

Since you work in Oregon, you will need to complete an Oregon non-resident return.  in Washington, if you meet other requirements other than Driver license requirement, than you will not need to file a Washington return because there is not state income tax in Washington.  However, if one or more of those other requirements are not met for Washington, then your tax home may be considered Ohio and you will need to file an Ohio resident return. 

[Akorto]

If I live in WA and OH almost equally and earn income in both, how should I go about this? 

I am married, and my husband predominantly worked in WA in 2024.

We rent month to month in WA. We have a house in OH that was our primary residence for 6.5 of the past 8 years. We rent out rooms in it, but we maintain an area for ourselves that we go back frequently to.

My husband's DL is WA but mine is still OH, though I'm never sure if it should be. Thanks!!

[TomD8 · Accepted solution]

@Akorto --

Washington State has no personal income tax.

Your income tax obligation to Ohio will depend on your & your husband's Ohio residency status, as defined by Ohio law.

Ohio will consider you a resident for tax purposes if you held a valid Ohio DL at any time during the tax year.  Thus you will be considered an Ohio resident for 2024, which means that all of your 2024 income will be taxable by the State of Ohio.  (Note that holding an Ohio DL is not the only residency criteria.) 

Your husband will be considered a non-resident of Ohio for tax purposes if he meets all the required criteria outlined in this Ohio tax form:

https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/tax.ohio.gov/forms/ohio_individual/individual/2023/itnrs-fi...

Here is Ohio's definition of "contact period":

"An individual "has one contact period in this state" if the individual is away overnight from the individual's abode located outside this state and while away overnight from that abode spends at least some portion, however minimal, of each of two consecutive days in this state."

https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5747.24

Ohio taxes non-residents only on Ohio-source income.  If your husband qualifies as an Ohio non-resident, then only his Ohio-source income will be taxable by Ohio.  Otherwise, all his income will be taxable by Ohio, regardless of the income source.

One example of Ohio-source income is rental income from a property located in Ohio.  Since you and your husband have such income, it appears that you both will have an income tax obligation to the State of Ohio: you for all your income; your husband for either all, or for only his Ohio-source, income, depending on what you determine to be his Ohio residency status.

[Hal_Al]

I agree with @TomD8 , based on the info, you provided, you are a full year resident of Ohio for 2024 and will pay Ohio income tax on all YOUR income for 2024.  Your husband is, most likely, not a resident of OH.

That said, more info may be needed.  What's going on here? When did you move to the WA home? What is your intent for the future? What is the source(s) of the income you earn in both states? Possibly a simple thing like getting a WA drivers license and registering to vote there could make you a WA resident, in which case you would  pay state tax only on the income earned in OH.

[Akorto]

Hello,

I suppose whether or not we should do this is its own, probably not tax-related, question, but even if we both paid OH income tax on all of our joint income, we'd still come out ahead keeping our vehicle registered & insured in OH (for just 6 months of worse insurance, we'd already more than offset the difference even if both were fully taxed).

My husband's job is not great, so I don't know if we'll stay in WA, as it is a HCOL area. I am a nurse. We initially ended up here when I took a travel assignment in a different city. I no longer do travel nursing. I just have "normal" nurse jobs. I have licenses in both states, in addition to a compact license. I also have a remote, seasonal, non-nursing job I can do as an OH resident. We have a house in Ohio that we rent out rooms in, and we sometimes reside in a section of the house. 

[Akorto]

We had a year lease on an apartment in WA, but it's now month to month (for the same price... we can just get out of it easier). We have a cheap house in OH with a great rate. It would require a lot of effort to buy here.