A CHECKLIST OF THINGS TO DO TO CHANGE YOUR DOMICILE TO FLORIDA
Every situation is different, and no one will be able to accomplish this entire list.
This list was prepared by a former New York attorney and Public Servant disgusted with the way New York was treating its former resident retirees on the subject of taxation and domicile. Call it a final public service. It may be copied or reproduced in any manner at any time provided only that it is distributed free of charge.
Sever every tie possible with your former state. Do not believe the press releases issued by the tax authorities of your former state saying you needn’t sever all ties. These are political documents put out to pacify the bankers, stockbrokers, real estate brokers, lawyers, doctors, charities, etc. in your former state. It is a catch-22 situation. The press releases say nonresidents can maintain all kinds of ties, but if you do, the auditors will say you are still a resident. Make the move, make it real, sever the ties.
1. Be honest. If your heart and mind are still in what you consider “back home” and you intend to spend most of your time there and continue your former activities there, don’t pretend you have moved.
2 If you are not ready for retirement, you are going to have to give up your job in your former state, and get a job here.
3. Sell your home in your former state, or give it to your kids. Dispose of any real estate you may own in your former state. This is the first thing auditors look for, and will even call owning a summer bungalow “Maintaining a Home” there.
4. Buy a new home in Florida. If it’s better than the old home, so much the better. It doesn’t have to be bigger, but if it is nicer, it’s obvious you really mean to stay. Buying is better than renting.
5. Move your most precious personal possessions from your old home to your new home in Florida.
6. Make a complete inventory of all the precious things you have moved. Art, jewelry, furniture, china, books, diaries, photographs, musical instruments, golf clubs, fishing tackle, automobiles, tools, whatever you value most and can use in Florida. Insure your precious things to show how precious they are.
7. Get completely out of any business or profession in which you were engaged in your former state. Not only is any money you may earn there taxable there, it is a major element the auditors consider in determining whether you have moved. Full retirement is better than semiretirement.
8. Spend as little time as possible in your former state. In New York, if you spend more than 183 days there, all of your income from every source (including dividends and nonexempt interest) is taxed no matter where you are domiciled. In computing the 183 days, the smallest part of any day is counted as a full day (don’t ever expect a level playing field). Even if you
Change Domicile to Florida Checklist / Page 2spend less than 183 days in New York, they will tax all of your income if they find you to be “domiciled” there. Domicile is a matter of intent. You don’t tell them your intent, they tell you. The burden of proof is on you. The less time you spend there the better.
9. Holidays are important days to auditors. Spend them in Florida. Let your kids visit you for the holidays.
10. Resign from your former church or temple. Resign from all your former clubs or organizations (even the ones you haven’t attended for year). Do it in writing, explaining that you have moved to Florida. Send the original letter by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. Keep a copy of the letter and the return receipt.
11. Get out your Christmas card list. Make up a dated form letter. Give all your friends and acquaintances your new Florida address. This letter can be sent via regular US Mail. Keep a copy of the letter and a list of all the recipients.
12. Write the elections officials in your former state telling them you have moved to Florida, and ask to be removed from the list of eligible voters. Send the original letter by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. Keep the return receipt.
13. Write any private phone or residence listing directory that served your former residence telling them to remove you from their list. Send the original letter by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. Keep a copy of the letter and the return receipt.
14. If you have subscribed to any theatre or concert series and still have performances coming, write the theatre or concert hall, and donate your tickets. This is not only persuasive, but will provide a tax deduction. Send the original letter by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. Keep the return receipt and a copy of the letter.
15. Go to the Post Office. Get two copies of their change of address forms. Submit one copy, and have the other one notarized. Keep it to show the date.
16. Stop contributing to charities in your old state, and tell them why. Auditors look at contributions closely.
17. Stop contributing to political candidates in your former state.
18. Close any bank accounts and/or securities brokerage accounts in your former state.
19. Don’t use doctors, dentists, chiropractors, masseurs, or therapists in your former state, unless it is a real emergency.
20. Don’t maintain a controlling interest in a corporation in your former state. Try to do nothing, such as being in a partnership, that will require you to file a Non-Resident Tax Return in your former state.
Change Domicile to Florida Checklist / Page 321. Don’t keep a Safe Deposit Box in your former state.
Now that you have severed the old ties, make new ones in Florida.
1. Spend as much time as possible in Florida. It should be substantially more than you spend in your former state.
2. Keep evidence proving the time you spend in Florida: phone bills, club bills, utility bills, merchant bills showing dates of purchases. Keep them until the statute of limitations in your former state has expired.
3. Get a Florida driver license. Turn in the driver license from your former state.
4. Register to vote, and then vote in Florida.
5. Go to the Courthouse and file a Declaration of Domicile declaring Florida to be your “Predominant and Principal Home.”
6. Register your car in Florida, get Florida plates, and turn the old ones in. Register your boat in Florida.
7. Join a church or temple in Florida – be active and contribute money to it.
8. Join golf, tennis, bridge, or social clubs in Florida – be active in them, attend meetings, make suggestions, serve on committees.
9. Open a bank account, open a brokerage account, use an insurance broker, and get a doctor and dentist here in Florida. Get a safe deposit box in Florida, and use it. If you have occasion to borrow money, do it in Florida.
10. Have all insurance, i.e., homeowners, fire, car, boat, personal property, and umbrella written by Florida brokers, and mailed to your Florida address.
11. Get your medical care or any other therapy in Florida.
12. Have your car serviced in Florida, and buy your next car here.
13. Establish charge accounts with Florida stores.
14. Join a political party in Florida, and contribute to candidates here.
15. Don’t pay cash; your credit cards help to establish your presence.
16. If you are entitled to social security, notify them of your new address, and have payments automatically deposited to a Florida bank. Have any regular pension payments automatically deposited to a Florida bank.
Change Domicile to Florida Checklist / Page 417. Get a new passport showing your Florida address.
18. If you donate to national charities, do it through their Florida chapters.
19. Make any funeral arrangement through a Florida funeral director.
20. Buy a burial plot in Florida, and sell any burial plot in your former state.
Chester Clem, Esquire
Chester Clem, P.A.
2145 15th Ave
Vero Beach, FL 32960-3435