Ending State Tax Residency – Moving outside of the US | International Tax Lawyer Santa Monica

Good morning and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office video blog! My name is Eugene Sherayzen; I am an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.

Today, I am continuing a series of blogs from Santa Monica, California. In previous blogs, I raised the issue of US citizens moving to live outside of the United States and I’ve addressed the first problem of local tax compliance. Today, I’d like to talk to you about the second problem; that is the ending of state tax residency. Let me be clear about what I mean here; what I mean is ending local state tax residency, obviously not federal tax residency. Regarding federal tax residency, you will have as long as you are a US citizen.

For example, the state of California has its own state tax residency rules and while they consider you a tax resident, they will tax you on your worldwide income. This is similar situation with respect to states like Minnesota, New York, New Jersey – basically all of the states that have income tax and even those who don’t also have their own state tax residency rules.

Why is that important? Why do you need to end your state tax residency or at least consider doing so before you leave the United States? For a very simple reason: If you don’t, then the state will continue to tax you on your worldwide income even though, technically, you live outside of the United States.

I can give you an example from my Minnesota practice. A client of mine left for the Middle East and thought he ended his Minnesota tax residency; he lived there for four years and then all of a sudden, the state of Minnesota contacted him and argued that he should be paying Minnesota taxes on his worldwide income for all of these four years. The local accountants, unfortunately didn’t do a good job; in the interview, they misguided him and he came to me and we took care of this problem. The problem is that there is always a cost in neglecting these types of issues. You need to make sure that you do everything that is required to end your state residency before you leave the United States. For example, if you are required to give notice to your local county, then absolutely do so. If you are required to put your house up for sale, then absolutely do so. If you are required to move your banking outside of the state, then do so. State tax residency rules can be very complex, so it’s important that you explore this issue ahead of time and then take care of it before you leave.

Thank you for watching, until the next time.