Where is my legal residency for tax purposes?

Fortunately for you -- along with many others -- Florida has no state income tax.

"verse.notes" wrote:

Well, you're in luck, because Florida doesn't have an individual income tax. So even if you are a resident there, you have no tax liability. Generally, when a U.S. citizen goes to work in a foreign country. his or her domicile remains in the state where it was before departure, even if the individual has severed all ties with that state. A person's domicile is his permanent home; the place to which, whenever absent, he intends to return; the place where a person has fixed a habitation for self and family. In order to change one's domicile, generally one must meet all of three requirements: (1) abandon the previous domicile (physically move away from it); (2) move to and reside in a new location (light somewhere); and (3) intend to remain in the new location permanently or indefinitely. Expatriate employees usually don't meet the third requirement; most U.S. citizens intend to return to the U.S. eventually, although there certainly are exceptions. So your domicile probably is the last place where you had your main home and establishment, which appears to have been Florida. If so, as I said, you're in luck. If your domicile were in Connecticut, you would probably be a nonresident under Connecticut law. Although your domicile would remain in Connecticut, you would be a nonresident if you were present in a foreign country for at least 450 days of any 548-day (18 month) period, did not spend more than 90 days of any taxable year in Connecticut (pro-rata for part-year residents) and did not maintain a home in Connecticut where your spouse or minor children resided. A number of states have similar rules, including New York and Delaware. Katie in San Diego

I took a look at publication 54 "Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad" (

), page twelve,Chapter 4.. Take a look at example 2 (it is similar to yoursituation). For purposes of excluding foreign income, youtax home is cannot be a foreign country as long as your"abode" is in the US. However, I don't think the housesthat you own in the US are your abode because you don't haveany domestic connection to them. If you wondering if your Australian income is taxed in America, her are the (3) rules that must be met to allow foreign income to be excluded:

• Individual's Tax home must be a foreign country. (see above)

• The individual must have foreign earned income. (duh....how could it be excluded if you didn't have any.)

• A US citizen who lived as a resident of a foreign country for a whole year or at least 330 full days (does not have to be consecutive) during any 12 consecutive months ...or....a US resident alien from a country with whom the US has a tax treaty who is a resident of a foreign country for the entire tax year. If you meet these criteria, then you will need to file

2555-EZ. As far a Florida goes, you might have to call the state directly, none of my tools show anything of foreign income for Florida. I know in my state the have basically designated a non-resident and resident statuses and that is it. They don't care where you are, another state, another country another planet, whatever. Either you are a resident or you are not. Perhaps that might be a good place to start. Jim

Florida has no state income tax. You must file US Federal income tax however.

You should find a tax man familiar with any treaties and agreements between the US and Australia.

Andy in Eureka, Texas