If I lived with my parents since child hood in New Hampshire and bought a Condo in Massachusetts, would I be OBLIGATED to make the condo my primary residence? Also what if it was just an apartment being rented.
Am I obligated to make a place MY RESIDENCY, just because I am paying for it?
I was told, even though my employment is through New Hampshire, Massachusetts would tax me for income, where as New Hampshire, does not.
This seems to contain the information you desire.
From your description, if you actually live in your Massachusetts condo for 183 days or more (including partial days) out of the year, you’re a Mass resident. If you commute from out-of-town, you’re not a resident, but Mass will tax any income derived from Massachusetts sources (your job in Mass), but not your income from non-Massachusetts sources (like moonlighting in your hometown).
situation would be
OK, I misunderstood. Working in NH and living in Massachusetts.
This page (same website, different topic) has these quotes (emphasis added):
I’m not a lawyer or tax accountant, but reading that makes me think that living in Massachusetts gives that state a tax claim to your income, even if it’s made out-of-state. In my limited experience, that seems pretty typical: Where you live is where you’re taxed.
Which is a shame, since NH doesn’t tax W-2 reported income.
What does “paid from New Hampshire” mean? Does that mean you actually work in Mass, but your paycheck has a New Hampshire address on it?In my experience, states don’t care when the payroll department of your job is. They care where you live and where you work- and typically, the state where you live will tax you, and give you credit for any taxes paid to the state where you work.
Your employer will calculate and withhold State Income Tax based on the Work State, as well as your Residence State. This is all done because it is not uncommon for people to live in one state, near a border, and drive 20 miles to work in another state. There is a table used to determine the specific rules between any two states.
The calculations are designed so that you should not be double-taxed. But, in your case for example I think the rule says - if the residence state rate is higher than the work state rate, you would be taxed in the work state for the work state rate, and taxed in the residence state for the difference between the work state amount and the residence state rate.
Make sense?
My experience is in NH and MA, and this is pretty much the way it works. If you are physically in MA while working you will get taxed by MA, regardless of your residence.
You forgot a few steps:
So. How about. If I rent an apartment in Massachusetts. Do I have to make that my registered residence? Or can I still use my residence from NH, as my primary?
Your primary residence really doesn’t matter when it comes to paying state income taxes. If you work in MA, you pay income tax in MA.
Your primary residence can mean many things in many different contexts. It has an impact on where you register your car, where you vote, and certain benefits. But it really doesn’t appear to have an impact on whether you pay taxes in this case.
Are you performing your work in MA? This is one of the the critical questions.
I am not talking about taxes.
I am talking about registered residence.
I can rent an apartment in my name out of MA, and not have to make it my registered residence?
If you bought a condo in Massachusetts and rented it to someone, presumably that would be income from MA and you would still have to file a tax return there, at least for that rental business.
You can have multiple houses or apartments, and only one can be your primary residence. I presume the tax department(s) will have certain criteria - how often you stay there, why, how much of your personal possessions, family, and life happen there, etc. I also suspect for most people the determination of primary residence is pretty simple.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/09/realestate/just-what-is-a-primary-residence.html
If it comes down to a dispute, better be able to prove where you spend most of your time - commuter receipts, restaurant bills, shopping and other typical life activity receipts, where mail goes, etc. Worst case, a judge will decide.
I’ve heard of situations where for example, someone has an apartment where they work but come home every weekend. (i.e. some congressmen) If the weekend home has the wife and family, and you go there for holidays, I think you’d have a good case for making it primary. OTOH, if your weekend home is your parents’ house and you just have a room, and you frequently stay in your apartment in the city over the weekend, I think you’d have a hard time arguing you don’t live “primarily” in that apartment. (Students in residence and soldiers stationed overseas, who have a fixed term and no strong commitment to their new location, can always argue “my primary residence is where I will return to in a year or three…”)
I don’t think there’s a law about you “must” make X your primary residence. I also suspect the tax department is looking for and willing to fight cases where it looks like people are playing games with their nominal residence to evade taxes.
All the information you need is at that link. You, your lawyer, and your accountant will have to decide what applies to your specific case and the various consequences. The quote that covers the general approach of the state is:
What do you think registered residence means? It’s not a term that seems to exist in reality as far as I’ve ever heard or can find on the Web now.
If you rent an apartment in your name in MA for your college aged daughter to live in, while you reside in NH, then that certainly isn’t your principal residence. If you live in it every day of the year and never set foot in NH then it certainly is your principal residence. Nobody is “registering” it in any case. Aside from the obvious cases, what’s left is grey area that gets determined in context, which people have posted really helpful links about already.
I live with my parents in New Hampshire, my residence since birth for 26 years.
I rent an apartment in Masachusetts, within walking distance from work.
Can I maintain my New Hampshire Driver’s License and mailing/billing address, without having to officially transition my paperwork as Mass, residence.
“Official registration”
Neither state is going to care what address you use as a billing/shipping address for your credit cards, online shopping etc. The only things the states are going to care about are things involving the states- where do you pay taxes, which driver’s license do you have , where do you qualify for resident rates at the public university? That sort of thing . The definition of “resident” can be different for each issue, so that you might be a resident for the purpose of being required to use a Mass driver’s license even as you are a non-resident for tax purposes or tuition at the state university.
If you’re spending 5 days a week in Massachusetts, you’re almost certain to become a Mass resident for tax purposes. Certainly if it lasts longer than a year.
Is there some other issue you're not mentioning? Taxes would be the thing most people would be concerned about, but that's not your concern. Switching a NH license for a MA license should be very simple and not involve any additional tests, and shipping/billing address should also not be an issue . It's not clear what you think you will gain by trying to remain a NH resident even while you live 5 days a week in MA , and if you can clarify what the issue is, maybe we can give you better answers.
You probably could keep your car registration, driver’s license, voting registration in NH without anyone knowing or caring.
Until something happens, like a car accident, or a break-in at your house, or an injury. Then people may take a closer look at your situation and decide that your insurance isn’t valid, your car is not legally registered or insured, your health insurance is invalid, etc. You also may find yourself in trouble with the law since you are avoiding MA taxes by not registering your car in MA and paying your excise tax.
So, to sum up, you may get away with it but it could also bite you hard if anything happens. IMO, it’s not worth the huge potential downside for what is otherwise a fairly simple operation to transfer your official domicile.
I am asking this from a “structural” point of view, not a matter of intricate dilemma.
Salem nh is here X — X Methuen MA is there.
if I decide to pay for an apartment in Methuen. Is there any reason, I couldn’t live there, to the same conditions I have lived under, in Salem. As if I never moved. Even if I live there or not.
The main reason for one to live in Methuen over Salem is to be closer to the gelato at Dolce Freddo on 110 near Borrelli’s. Best I have ever had.
Bottom line, you can do whatever you choose to do. But, as with all things, there are implications, impacts, and consequences - which we have laid out above.
Clearly you have some underlying goal and you think this “scheme” will help you achieve it. But might I suggest you are making this much more complicated than it is.