I moved in 2021 from Illinois to Texas. Since Texas has no income tax it is in my best interest to use as early of a date for Texas residency as possible to reduce my Illinois income taxes.
TurboTax says the following regarding choosing this date:
The date you choose as the first day of residency can coincide with one of the following events:
- You or your spouse arrived in the state or country
- Your belongings arrived
- You or your spouse started work
- You started renting your new place
- You purchased your new home
- You or a family member enrolled in school
- You or your spouse registered to vote
- You or your spouse applied for a state driver's license
Due to several factors, we closed on the purchase our new home in Texas in Mid May 2021 but didn't arrive in Texas for good until mid July. I'm wondering if I can really use the mid May date for change of residency or if I should use the mid July date? Is there some other date in between these two I should use?
The week after the close on our house we registered our 2 kids in the new schools for the 2021-22 school year and my daughter took an online summer school class with the new school in June. At the beginning of June we took possession of the house in Texas (previous owner rented it back for a few weeks) and established utilities in our name at the new address. At the time I took a short trip of less than 1 week to get the keys, change the locks, receive the delivery and installation of some new appliances, and do a few other things around the new house. I also brought a car load of possessions to the new home and left the car at the house. I wasn't back at the new house however until the mid July date.
I know the mid July date is safer, but would like to use the mid May purchase date or even the early June possession date if it is valid.
Thanks.
