I live in one state but own a home in another state. That home is sitting empty. Can I deduct mortgage interest payments and/or the taxes I pay on that property?

[HokieNation1999]

I am a government civilian DOD employee who was a Virginia Resident and am living/working in Florida where I live in an apartment and pay rent.  I have a home in Virginia that I am paying a mortgage on but it is not being rented out nor has it ever been a rental.  Can I deduct the mortgage interest from my Virginia property?  Can I deduct the property taxes I pay on the Virginia property?

[DDollar · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can treat the home as a second home and deduct the mortgage interest and property tax (you could deduct the property tax regardless).

[CH007]

So in this scenario, you do not have to file in the state of Virginia, correct?  You would only need to do so if you have rental income, correct? 

[TomD8]

@CH007 --

Not exactly.  Virginia's rule for tax residency is this:

Resident -- A person who lives in Virginia, or maintains a place of abode here, for more than 183 days during the year, or who is a legal (domiciliary) resident of the Commonwealth, is considered a Virginia resident for income tax purposes.

https://www.tax.virginia.gov/residency-status#:~:text=Resident%20%2D%2D%20A%20person%20who,resident%....

If you're a VA tax resident, ALL your income is taxable by Viginia, regardless of its source.

[Carl]

If you're a VA tax resident, ALL your income is taxable by Viginia, regardless of its source.

@TomD8 can elaborate on this more, as I'm not privy to VA tax law. But by "all income", it means all income from all sources received by you from the date your residency was established.  If you established residency on 15 Dec 2023, then only income you earned "after" December 15 would be reportable/taxable to the state of VA.