Hi guys. I'm trying to figure out the 2010 residency filing for two married clients and it's making my brain hurt!
Husband and wife have have lived in Virginia for 10 years. Voter registration, primary residence, driver's license, vehicle registration, Last Will and Testament, etc... are all Virginia-based. No question about Virginia residency status. Both hubby and wifey worked for the US Gov't as civilians until this month. They have now retired and are drawing federal retirement annuity payments.
Clients also own a vacation home in North Carolina. Just last week, they moved into their NC residence. They are in the process of changing all "residency indicators" to NC. But they maintain their VA home as their new vacation home. This is a legit and permanent move to NC. They do intend to sell VA home in a couple of years.
How do they file their 2010 income taxes for each State? Resident or part-year resident???
Virginia's Dept of Revenue website defines a "resident" as "a person who lives in Virginia, or maintains a place of abode here, for more than 183 days during the year." Does having a second house in VA qualify as "maintain[ing] a place of abode"?
On the other hand, the website goes on to define a "part-year resident" as one "who moves out of Virginia during the year to become a resident of another state". That's also true of my clients.
So which one is it? My gut tells me part-year resident in both States, but Virginia's unclear definitions are making me unsure.