[alexhas]

I own a home in the state of Florida & Georgia. I file my taxes in the state of Fl. My mom lived in the Ga. Home year round, after my retirement in 2008, I started living in Ga. 8 months of the year. After my mom's death in 2013, the city & county taxes on the home in Ga. Increased due to the homestead exemptions taken a way. I meet the age requirement, own the home since 2000, but does not meet the residency requirement because of my Fl ID. When I tried to file, I was told I had to proved I have been a residence for 5 years. However, the Ga. State Code for filing for this exemption doesn't specify what documents are needed to show residency to file. I was denied an application.

Question- Can I have dual residence in the state of Ga. And Fl. And filed for homestead exemptions with the city & county of Warner Robins, Ga,(Houston County)?

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

You do NOT want to get the homestead exemption, because doing so automatically makes you liable for Georgia state income taxes.

[ebaines]

And just to add - there is no such thing as "dual state residency." For tax purposes you are either a resident of Florida or a resident of Georgia, but not both. I suspect that as ATE intimated you would prefer remaining a FL resident to avoid GA's income tax, but be aware that in general states determine whether you are a resident for tax purposes by determining which home is your "principal abode," and that determination is based on a number of factors, including things like where you spend the most time. Obviously it is in GA's best interest for them to claim that you are truly a GA resident so they can tax your income. Based on what you've told us I would argue that they would have a good case, since for the past 8 years you have been living in GA at least twice as many days/year as FL. GA would argue (and rightly so) that GA is your principal abode and FL is your vacation home. I would recommend that if you want to continue to be a FL resident for tax purposes you start spending less time in GA and more time in FL - at least 6 months plus 1 day each year in FL. This is precisely why so many "snow birds" who have residences in the north as well as FL make it a point to spend at least 6 months + 1 day at their FL residences each year.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Once again, ebaines covers the topic with details that I did not consider. You can never go wrong folling his advice!