How States Determine Tax Residency
Every state with an income tax has its own rules for determining who is a resident. Most use a combination of two tests: a domicile test (where you intend to make your permanent home) and a statutory residency test (typically a day-count threshold combined with maintaining a permanent place of abode). Some states — like California, Illinois, and Wisconsin — rely primarily on domicile and a facts-and-circumstances analysis, while others — like New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut — have bright-line day-count tests that can make you a statutory resident regardless of where you claim domicile.
The 183-Day Rule: State by State
The 183-day threshold is the most common, but it's far from universal. Hawaii and Oregon use 200 days. Idaho uses 270. Ohio uses 212 “contact periods” (not calendar days). Arizona uses a 9-month presumption. Alabama and Kansas use 6-7 month rules. And the nine no-income-tax states have no threshold at all. Use the lookup above to see each state's exact rule, or run your numbers through our 183-Day Calculator.
States With No Income Tax
Nine states impose no broad individual income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Moving to one of these states eliminates your state income tax liability — but your former state may still audit your departure. Use our Audit Risk Score to assess your exposure, and the Residency Change Checklist to make sure every base is covered.
Most Aggressive Audit States
New York is widely considered the most aggressive state for residency audits — its Department of Taxation and Finance runs a dedicated program that generates hundreds of millions in annual revenue from challenged domicile changes. California, Minnesota, Connecticut, Maryland, Wisconsin, Maine, New Jersey, and Ohio are also known for actively pursuing departing high-income residents. If you're leaving one of these states, contemporaneous day-count records are essential — and iReside provides them automatically via GPS.
Related tools
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do states determine tax residency?
- Most states use one or both of two tests: a domicile test (where you intend to live permanently) and a statutory residency test (typically based on maintaining a home in the state and spending more than a threshold number of days there). Nine states have no income tax at all, and several — including California, Illinois, and Wisconsin — rely primarily on domicile and a facts-and-circumstances analysis rather than a simple day count.
- What is the 183-day rule?
- The 183-day rule is the most common statutory residency threshold — if you maintain a permanent place of abode in a state and spend more than 183 days there during the tax year, the state may treat you as a full-year resident. However, not every state uses 183 days: Hawaii and Oregon use 200, Idaho uses 270, Ohio uses 212 contact periods, and Arizona uses a 9-month presumption.
- Which states have no income tax?
- Nine states have no broad individual income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire (I&D tax repealed effective 2025), South Dakota, Tennessee (Hall Tax repealed 2021), Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Washington does impose a 7% capital gains excise tax on long-term gains above a threshold.
- Which states are most aggressive about residency audits?
- New York is widely regarded as the most aggressive — it runs a dedicated residency audit program. California, Minnesota, Connecticut, Maryland, Wisconsin, Maine, New Jersey, and Ohio are also known for actively challenging domicile changes, particularly for high-income taxpayers moving to no-tax states.
- What does 'partial days count' mean?
- In some states — including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Minnesota, Maryland, Massachusetts, Utah, and Virginia — any portion of a day physically present in the state counts as a full day for the statutory residency test. A connecting flight, a business lunch, or a few hours of shopping all count. Other states like Pennsylvania use a midnight-to-midnight rule where you must be present at midnight.
- What is a safe harbor?
- A safe harbor is a set of conditions that, if met, create an irrebuttable or strong presumption of nonresidence. For example, New York offers a 548-day foreign safe harbor (450+ days outside NY in a 548-day period), Connecticut has a 30-day Group A exception for domiciliaries with no CT home, and Ohio's IT-DA affidavit creates an irrebuttable nonresident presumption if you have ≤212 contact periods.
- How does iReside help?
- iReside tracks your physical location via GPS every day and logs which state you're in automatically. It alerts you before you hit any state's residency threshold and generates audit-ready reports in one click — the gold standard of evidence for defending your residency position.