Relocating from NY to back to Florida
 

I am retired, and I am a former resident of Florida. Three years ago I left Florida and I am renting in NY. I have a NY driver’s license and my vehicles are registered in NY. Subsequently I purchased a home in The Villages and listed it as my secondary residence. I have recently heard about how my taxes can be raised “indiscriminately” unless I become a resident. I am now considering making Florida my permanent home again with long visits to NY from time to time. Does anyone foresee a problem with NY?

If you are talking about property taxes there is a homestead exemption available if Florida is your primary home. See your Florida county tax assessor site for more information. New York State income tax is a different topic and more complicated

I know a couple people that spend a decent amount of time in NY. One is a CEO and she documents everything as to her location as NY came after her for taxes two years ago and she proved they had no claim.

My experience with NY was when I stopped working in Manhattan as NJ resident. 3 years went by and they came after me for owed. taxes for 97. We calculated it again, I owed about $50. We paid it. Some months later, I got the same notice for 98. I owed about $35 and we paid it. Some months later I got the notice for 99. The difference was in 99, I worked 9 months in NY. We calculated it out, they owed me about $75. We filed, got a notice that it was beyond that statute of limitation for refunds and they owed me nothing.

My takeaway from that, to steal a description from Matt Taibbi, is that NY is a vampire squid jamming it's blood funnel into anything that smells like money.

Now that I'm full time in FL, we're being careful not to trigger the same for NJ. They will stick their hand in my pocket if they can get away with it.

No, your taxes don't get raised "indiscriminately." There's a thing called Homesteading.

Basically here's how it works:

You buy a home, you get assessed, the tax is $xxxxxx/year.

BUT - you apply for homesteading by the deadline. That means you are using that specific home as your primary residence for a minimum of 6 months and 1 day every year.

When you do that, you get a DISCOUNTED property tax.

So it's not that non-homesteaders pay more, it's rather that homesteaders pay less. It's a matter of perspective.

This is part of how Florida can get by without income tax. The property taxes for the state are somewhat high, UNLESS you live in the state most of the year.

There are also rules about owning multiple properties in Florida that affect homesteading. You'd have to look that up though, I only know the rules exist, and don't know what the rules are.

I know of a very successful tort attorney who relocated from California to Texas. CA, NY, NJ and other states do not want to lose taxes from their high income taxpayers. In his case the state actually kept track of where his cell phone was. Since he litigates all over the US I am sure they had a time with him. His wife loved CA and insisted they keep a home there where she could spend time. That certainly added to his problems.

They will track your ezpass, credit card charges, phone calls, etc if you are a high value target. Nothing new, they have done this for decades. Keep meticulous documents if you have exposure. The NY audit manual is online if concerned. See what they did to Jeter of the Yankees,

Taxman: Derek Jeter cheated New York out of millions - New York Daily News

A well- off friend who previously lived in NY went thru one of these audits. My friend kept detailed records of every day spent in NY v FL or traveling. They prevailed. But apparently most people end up settling with NY and pay something. My friend was determined not to let that happen. I believe You have to spend at least 6 months and a day in FL to avoid NY income taxes.

Under section 605(b)(1) of the Tax Law, an individual who is not domiciled in New York is considered a resident for personal income tax purposes if that individual maintains a permanent place of abode in the state and spends more than 183 days of the taxable year in the state.

New York Taxpayer Part-Year Resident Domicile Change ALJ Statutory Resident NY

One can imagine a scenario where a part-year resident taxpayer maintains the legacy residence, or a summer home in the Hamptons, and triggers full-year statutory residence status inadvertently by returning for visits to the State during his/her non-resident period, an activity that was previously permissible.

What To Expect In A Residency Audit | New York Residency Audit Guide: Hodgson Russ LLP

Even if you spend more than 6 months + a day in Florida or traveling, and are registered as a Florida resident, NY and several other states may come after you based on the "near and dear" determination. This means if you are keeping your personal family stuff up in your NY residence, they consider that your home and residence. This includes family photos, trophies, collectables and other items of a personal nature. Also, if you belong to a country club or donate to local charities up there, they consider this as more evidence to hit you with residency taxes. You need to have a doctor and dentist in Florida, and all your billing and accounts in the Florida address. They don't want to see you leave if you are a big tax payer, and will look for everything "near and dear" to prove that you haven't left NY.

See the guide. Excerpt

HOW LIKELY IS IT THAT I WILL BE AUDITED?
Very likely. If you are a high-income taxpayer claiming a move into or out of New York, it’s a near certainty you will be audited. The Tax Department is sophisticated and aggressive. Consider some of the numbers:
The tax department has ten district offices located across the State (and in Chicago).
There are more than 300 auditors who focus on these
Over the past five years, the Tax Department has conducted over 15,000 of these
These audits have generated over $1 billion in revenue over this time
In short, there are a billion reasons why the New York Tax Department watches these issues carefully. If you claim a move from New York, expect to get audited.

Don't know anything about NY taxes, but if your home isn't homesteaded in NY, then you can homestead here in Florida, but you missed this years homestead exemption, as I believe you must have owned the property on January 1st and filed by the end of March. All you need to do is register to vote and and have a FL driving license and then apply for a homestead.
I know this will come as a shock to many, but you don't have to live here any amount of time. The 6 months and a day rumor is a falsehood. Source: The man who was responsible for getting Homesteading passed, Ken Wilkinson

The missing piece of the puzzle is how material are the taxes to the equation? Many don’t fight because the cost would be more than the tax and you get closure with the payment.

The 6 months and a day rule is for income tax purposes not for resident purposes there's a difference.

I would do anything I could do avoid paying taxes to the Empire State just on principle alone

Claim Florida As Your Residence For Taxes | Kiplinger

this should answer all your questions....