I own a Florida condo, but won't be able to move in until the current renter's lease ends in 6 months. I will not own Real Estate in any other state. I will be living at a friend's place in Florida, house-sitting for the 6 months prior to moving into the condo. Can I establish residency before moving into my condo?

For income taxes, your residence is the state you reside in more than half the calendar year. So that would apply in the case of your house sitting followed by your condo.

For the homestead exemption in FL, you have to live in the property you own.
Look on fl.gov for details, as they vary by state.
I'm in CT and have lived in MA. Both states require that you reside in your home for one whole year from the day of the Grand List of the year before you even start. In my present house, which I bought May 2012, I had to wait til the second half payment of 2014, and couldn't apply til that spring. But that wasn't homestead (MA was); it's a senior discount. Very similar I believe, based on what happened in MA.

Florida doesn't have an income tax, by the way. So, just out of curiosity, why do you want to establish Florida residency so soon?

Guessing the exemption. FL has a big one. The one I had in Cambridge, MA, was just for the city, not the whole state. Rich city with lots of outside investors gobbling up everything. 15 years ago, taxes on my little condo went from 850 or so to 88. I remember the 88! For the whole YEAR.

Probably so. If so, I agree with Joypulv: one cannot establish residence, in a specific residential unit, such as the condo. before residing in that residence. In that sense, it's a contradiction in terms.

Residence in the state is different than residence in the condo. That's where OP had me confused.

Thanks. State tax is one reason to be officially Floridian sooner rather than later. If I live in Florida, tag my car with FL plates, and have a FL mailing address for all financial accounts, how could I not be legally a FL resident? I won't have any utility bills to show though.

Please read all our responses again - carefully - and ask again if you still don't understand.

You must live in the state for 6 months, there is no requirement to own a home, no requirement to have electric bill in your name, a homeless person who lives 6 months in a tent on the beach would establish the same

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Originally Posted by ricebread

Thanks. State tax is one reason to be officially Floridian sooner rather than later. ...

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As I previously indicated, Florida does not have an income tax.

But yes, if you register your car in Florida, and establish a mailing address there (as well as such things as getting a Florida driver's license, and register to vote there), you can establish Florida residence, for whatever it's worth.

At least one of the previous answers may be a bit confusing - Fr_Chuck says "you must live in the state for 6 months" which could be misinterpreted to mean "you must live in the state for 6 months before you can claim it as your state of residence." which would be incorrect. Fr_Chuck is addressing a situation where a person has multiple dwellings, in different states, in which case the state of residency (and where state income taxes are owed) is generally determined by where the person spends the majority of time. For snow birds who live in Florida during the winter and move back north when warmer weather comes it is essential that they maintain records to show that they spend at least 6 months and 1 day in FL to avoid income tax in the other state. There can be other factors that may come into play, but I won't go into here because this is not the situation that the OP has related. The OP is moving into the state of FL and it will be his only residence. Consequently the day he moves into the house-sitting location in FL he can claim to be a FL resident. To help strengthen the tie he should do things such as register his car(s) in FL, get a FL drivers license, and register to vote in FL. If moving from a state with income tax he should file a part-year income tax return to establish that he has officially moved out.

Thanks, Ebaines, that's helpful. I believe the 6-month rule is a matter of state law in the state which does have income tax. I don't know if it's a universal rule (having been an Alaska resident all my life, although living in Florida at present, and Alaska not having an income tax either for some 40 years).

Yes, that's right. You wouldn't have an issue, but iff a snow bird from a state that has an income tax can document that he spends 6 months + 1 day in FL then the other state can't go after him for income taxes (except on income earned from sources in that state, such as the sale of residentail property). Some states - like NY and NJ - are known to be pretty aggressive at going after people who maintain a residence in-state but don't an file income tax return, which is why it's essential to have those records. But even if you meet the 6 months + 1 day rule, you may still need supporting evidence such as voter registration, car registration, and driver's license as evidence that your long term intention is to be a FL resident. I think it's also important to make sure that the mailing address of financial starements (bank accounts, brokerage statejments, social security, etc) is a FL address.

"... Most states tax income of nonresidents earned within the state. ..." State income tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thus, if the state having the income tax in this case (41 states impose an individual income tax; Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming being the exceptions. Some states also apparently allow political subdivisions to tax individual income), would tax income earned within the state, even if OP were to establish 1/2-year Florida residence (assuming that other state is one of the "most states").

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Originally Posted by AK lawyer

"... Most states tax income of nonresidents earned within the state. ..." State income tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thus, if the state having the income tax ...would tax income earned within the state, even if OP were to establish 1/2-year Florida residence (assuming that other state is one of the "most states").

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Yes. For example if you are a resident of FL but own a rental property in, say, NJ, then NJ will want to collect taxes on the portion of your income that is generated by that property, because it's considered to be NJ source. This becomes a real hassle for consultants or others who work for clients in multiple states, as they must file income tax returns in every state where they earn income. For professional athletes it means filing in every state they compete in professionally.