New York residency audits for snowbirds moving to Florida

Under Tax Law section 605(b)(1)(B), you are a New York resident if you maintain a permanent place of abode in the state and spend in the aggregate more than 183 days of the taxable year in New York. More than 183 means 184 is the first day that makes you a resident, which is why the rule is often called the 184-day rule.

New York generally counts any part of a day spent in the state as a full day, so the day you fly south and the day you fly back both count as New York days. A Florida snowbird who keeps a New York apartment or house and splits the year evenly can cross the line without noticing.

The abode half of the test matters as much as the days. The Court of Appeals held in Matter of Gaied (2014) that a dwelling only counts as your permanent place of abode if you have a residential interest in it, so a property you own but do not live in may not count. A home you keep and use does.

Domicile is the place you treat as your permanent home. You keep your New York domicile until you clearly establish a new one, and the person claiming the change carries the burden of proving it by clear and convincing evidence. Staying under 184 days defeats the statutory test but does nothing on its own for domicile.

New York's Nonresident Audit Guidelines describe the primary factors auditors weigh: your home, your active business ties, where you spend your time, items 'near and dear' to you, and family connections. Formal steps such as a Florida declaration of domicile, voter registration and a driver licence help, but they are weighed alongside those factors, not instead of them.

In Matter of Hoff (DTA No. 850209, decided October 9, 2025), the New York Tax Appeals Tribunal held that a couple who had filed a Florida declaration of domicile, registered to vote in Florida and obtained Florida driver licences had not proved a change of domicile from New York for 2018 and 2019.

The Tribunal pointed to the factors: their New York house was a substantial property they had used as their main home, their time followed the same pattern as earlier years and they spent more time in New York than in Florida in the years at issue, they kept substantial ties to their New York businesses, and they spent three of four significant holidays in New York. It held that the formal Florida documents were not sufficient in the absence of other factors, and sustained the notice of deficiency.

The lesson for snowbirds is that the day pattern is evidence for both tests at once. A day count that shows more time in Florida than New York, kept as you go, supports the domicile case as well as the 183-day test.

In a residency audit the burden is on you to prove where you were. Auditors typically ask for a day-by-day account of the year and test it against records such as credit card and bank statements, phone records, travel records, calendars and toll records. Gaps and reconstructions are where audits are lost.

Keep a daily record as the year happens, not at tax time, and keep the third-party evidence behind it. Remember that a travel day counts as a New York day. Track the count against 183 through the year, not only in December, so you can change plans before you cross it.