My mom is a New York resident but we are considering moving her to assisted living in New Jersey. Would she need to pay taxes in both states? She has no income other than social security and a pension. We are going to be maintaining her apartment in New York for at least the first year.

I suspect that she may have to file tax returns for both New York and New Jersey, but will owe no taxes due to her income level.

The amount of Social Security and the pension would help in my analysis.

In the year she relocates to NJ she would be considered a part-year NY resident and a part-year NJ resident, and would pay taxes to each based on the income earned while a resident of the particular state. After the first year she would be a full-time resident oif NJ and pay taxes only to NJ. Her NY apartment becomes a second home for her (vacation home) - and is no longer her principal residence. Be sure to change over her address of record for her SS and pension, as NY may likely try to claim that she is still a resident of NY so they can collect taxes (especially if the apartment stays in her name), so do whatever you can to make it as clear as possible that her intent is to be a permanent NJ resident.