[ripwho]

Believe it or not I can not get a straight answer on this ... I have heard that when one retires and takes a pension you better establish your new residency in the new state else you will be taxed according to your old state for ever! In my case I will not want to be taxed according to NYS rules if I do relo to TV in Florida... damn those state income taxes!! anyone have an opinion on this?

[Midge538]

FLORIDA DOES NOT HAVE A STATE INCOME TAX.

[ripwho]

midge - thanks.. that's my concern... the prevailing thought is 'if I start taking my pension in a state where there is an income tax, even though I relo to one without one, I will still be taxed by the original state'.....

[784caroline]

If you donot establish residency in FLorida, why would NYS NOT tax you. As far as they are concerned you are still a resident of NYS. Better question is why would you NOT want to establish residency in FLorida especially comming from a high tax state such as New York. There was a a previous thread on this issue started by "dadspet" and someone cited some fairly convincing arguments on the need to establish FLorida residency in order not to pay NYS tax and provided examples of what would be acceptable to NYS authorities in case of a state tax aduit.

[784caroline]

ripwho
Your problem is an easy one..simply notify your pension fund to stop taking State taxes from your pension...probably have to submit a NYS tax form. The pension fund should have your new FLorida Address and then at the end of the year, you would file a partial year tax return with NYS. At that point in time is where you would be subject to a state tax audit and you would have to prove a new residency requirement..if asked...to justify not paying NYS taxes.

[Muncle]

Somebody will be a lot more familiar with the following than I am, but possibly what you're concerned about is a state income tax ruling that was used by some states at some time in the '90s. States were claiming that since you earned X% of your retirement pay by working in their state, you should pay state income tax on X% of your retirement pay to that state regardless of where you lived in retirement. This got especially hairy if you worked for a corporation that moved you around a lot. You could end up having to file and paying to 5 or 6 different states as well as the one in which you lived. If I remember correctly, California and New York were two of the states pushing this hardest.

The battle went to the court system, maybe as high as the US Supreme Court, where the states were defeated. You're only required to pay taxes in those states where you are a resident.

This is all from memory. I did a quick Google, but could find nothing on it. I don't think I imagined all that stuff -- it's a bit too detailed for even my imagination -- but I cannot cite court cases, laws, or dates. I hate what old age is doing to my ah, you know, ah, whatdayacallit, er . . . remember thing.

[ripwho]

muncle - what you write (type) is my concern... not only mine but a bunch of colleagues who also are considering retirement... we're afraid once we start getting taxed in NYS, NYS will 'follow us" to Fla! ... thanks for googling - we'll see what else gets uncovered!

[efrahin]

It is not only the NYA Income Tax, there is the ESTATE Tax, due when you die, the minimum for NYA is $100,000.00 (that is the tax). I am doing my will and that is what the lawyer infomed me, maybe your case will be different.

[efrahin]

Oooops!, I mean the NYS (not NYA) Sorry I have the finger in the wrong place)

[JohnN]

ripwho, I'm in the process of moving, and am formally going to change my domocile to Florida from my current state (which has an income tax). You can get either a Florida driver's license or file an affadavit of domocile , plus then just file your taxes as the Florida address.

As noted above, states were trying to get their taxes on residents who were no longer there but I think that's long gone.

Heck, even GW Bush files as a Texan still, and he hadn't been living there.

[zcaveman]

When I moved to Florida, I immediately established residency and changed plates, drivers license, etc. I called my pension holder and had them change my address and send the retirement checks to the bank in Florida. They immediately quit taking out NJ income tax.

I received a job separation package and they were paying me as if I was still working in NJ (even though they knew I lived in Florida). I had to file a nonresident NJ state return until the job separation money ran out.