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pcumming · Aug 15, 2012, 05:45 PM

Had no earnings in 2012 in NC, moved to a new state. Must I pay state taxes in original state?

I lived in NC for 1/2 the year in 2012. I still have a house that will soon be up for sale. I took most of the year off and had no earnings in North Carolina. I did pay property taxes of course. I recently moved to Florida. Florida has no state income tax.

***At the end of this year, will I need to file a state tax return for 2012 for North Carolina even though there was no money earned in NC?

I called the NC Dept of State Revenue and they confused me more and kind of led me to believe I would have to pay taxes in 2012 and 2013 until I became a full resident of Florida (takes one year).
I think they are somewhat incorrect.

Thank you
PC

AtlantaTaxExpert · Aug 15, 2012, 06:14 PM

If your move is permanent, the day you leave the state is the day you start your residency in the OTHER state.

If you have NO income earned in North Carolina, they have NO legal standing to tax any income earned in Florida.

Do NOT file a NC tax return; since there is NO paper trail, the state of North Carolina will never know.

pcumming · Aug 15, 2012, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by AtlantaTaxExpert

If your move is permanent, the day you leave the state is the day you start your residency in the OTHER state.

If you have NO income earned in North Carolina, they have NO legal standing to tax any income earned in Florida.

Do NOT file a NC tax return; since there is NO paper trail, the state of North Carolina will never know.

*Thanks, I hope others concur. If you read Florida residency requirements it says you must be here a year to be " a resident". But not sure what that really means.

PC

MukatA · Aug 15, 2012, 11:15 PM

You still have house in NC. So NC will consider you resident till you sell the house.

AtlantaTaxExpert · Aug 16, 2012, 07:49 AM

I disagree. Residency is determined by primary locus (where you spend the bulk of your time) and other factors like voter registration, driver's license, etc.

MLSNC · Aug 16, 2012, 06:45 PM

I agree with Atlanta - once you make an affirmative action to become a resident of Florida you will not be a resident of NC. You will be a part-year resident and if you do not meet the filing requirements, then do not file the NC return.

However, this may not keep you from being looked at by NC. If they have your address from the prior year, and if they decide to check on you with the IRS and see that you had income, you may get a letter asking you why you did not file in NC which will lead you to having to prove that you did move. If that occurs, you will need to show them you changed your driver's license, your voting registration, that you licensed your car in the Florida, that you paid rent, etc. The more documents you have like this, the more you can support your case. So if you have not taken these steps, you should consider doing so. Hope this helps.

AtlantaTaxExpert · Aug 16, 2012, 07:14 PM

MLSNC's points are well taken and his advice should be heeded.

ebaines · Aug 17, 2012, 09:32 AM

As an example of what MLSNC and AtlantaTaxExpert are saying: I moved from NJ to TX (a no income tax state) and since then have not filed another return with NJ, even though I did not sell my old house. I did take posituve steps to demonstrate TX as my residence - registered a car (though I still have a NJ-registerd car as well), switched to a TX driver's license, used TX as mailing address for my federal return and all financial accounts (so no NJ address on any 1099 forms). I have never received an inquiry from NJ as to why I have "failed" to file there.