At a time when more high earners are leaving New York state, or at least are claiming to, state officials are stepping up already intense scrutiny to make sure those residents have actually moved. Because for the ultrarich, even an extra day in the wrong place could mean millions in income-tax liability. (Those poor things!) Via Bloomberg:
“The minute you file a partial return you’re going to hear from New York state,” said Jonathan Mariner, who created TaxDay, an app that tracks users’ locations so they don’t overstay the threshold of days that would trigger residency status, which is typically 184.
The whereabouts of the wealthy are particularly important to New York, a high-tax area where the loss of even a handful of rich residents can have an outsized effect on budget revenue. The state has been especially hard hit by departures since Covid-19 fueled the rise of remote work: The number of taxpayers earning more than $1 million who moved out more than doubled in 2020 from 2019 and has continued each year to be well above pre-pandemic levels, according to the Department of Taxation and Finance.
That’s leading state officials to try to claw back money wherever possible through residency audits — an investigation into whether someone correctly identified themselves as a full-time, part-time, or nonresident for income-tax purposes. It’s also taking place in California, another relatively high-tax, high-departure state facing budget strains, where the number of residency audits closed in the first 11 months of 2023 more than doubled from before the pandemic.
No one understands the burden. Le sigh!
