The moving truck is gone and the lease is cancelled. Your state is still watching.
State tax after you move abroad: when your state keeps taxing you
Part of the guide US tax obligations abroad: what your US passport demands every year
If you move from California to Oslo, from Virginia to Stockholm or from New York to Amsterdam, you think about visas, shipping containers and health insurance. Rarely about the tax authority of the state you are leaving. That is understandable, and sometimes expensive. Unlike the federal government, states do not tax by citizenship but by domicile and presence, and some of them assume you are coming back unless you prove otherwise. This page explains how domicile and residency fit together, how California, New York, Virginia, New Mexico and South Carolina treat a move abroad, and what you can do so that your state sees your move the same way you do.
1Federal and state: two tax obligations, two sets of rules
Nothing changes at the federal level. As a US citizen or green card holder, you still file your Form 1040 from Europe, reporting your worldwide income. What that involves is covered in our overview of US tax obligations for Americans living in Europe.
The states follow a different logic. California, Virginia and New Mexico, for example, tax residents on income from all sources and nonresidents on income from sources within the state; New York and South Carolina treat nonresidents the same way. Each state decides for itself who counts as a resident, and almost all of them work with two concepts: domicile, the place where you have your permanent home and intend to return, and residency, the tax status that can arise from domicile or from a long stay.
This creates the gap that many expats fall into. The federal government does not ask where you live. The state asks whether you have truly given up your domicile. And moving abroad does not prove that on its own, as long as your ties to the state remain.
2Domicile only ends when you have a new one
All five states on this page follow the same principle: you always have exactly one domicile, and you keep it until you acquire a new one. In its Publication 1031, the California Franchise Tax Board names three conditions for a change: abandoning your old domicile, actually moving to the new place, and intending to stay there permanently or indefinitely, as shown by your conduct. The New York Department of Taxation and Finance requires clear and convincing evidence and states explicitly that filing a declaration of domicile or registering to vote in the new place is not enough.
For expats, the new domicile is a place in Europe. That is legally possible, but it requires the same proof as a move to another state: a home you actually live in, your family in the new place, and a life that has shifted there. If you leave on a fixed-term contract and keep your house in the US, you will have a harder time than someone who sells up, deregisters and moves with the kids and the furniture.
| State | You are a resident if you | Rule for moving abroad |
|---|---|---|
| California | are in California for more than a temporary purpose, or are domiciled there and only temporarily away; presumed if more than nine months in the year | Safe harbor for an employment contract abroad of at least 546 consecutive days, visits of up to 45 days a year |
| New York | are domiciled in New York, or maintain a permanent place of abode there and spend 184 days or more in the state | 548-day rule: at least 450 days abroad, no more than 90 days in New York including family |
| Virginia | are domiciled there, or live there more than 183 days or maintain a home there | if you take a job abroad, you remain a domiciliary resident until you give up Virginia as your domicile |
| New Mexico | are domiciled there all year, or are present 185 days or more | no change of domicile if the absence is meant to be temporary, however long it lasts |
| South Carolina | are domiciled there | domicile remains until a new one is acquired; years of absence are not enough |
Source: California Franchise Tax Board, Publication 1031 (2025); New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Nonresident FAQs and Instructions for Form IT-203 (2025); Virginia Tax, Residency Status; New Mexico, 3.3.1.9 NMAC; South Carolina Department of Revenue, Guide to Determining a Taxpayer's Domicile (June 2021).
3California: closest connections and a safe harbor
California treats you as a resident if you are in California for more than a temporary or transitory purpose, or if you are domiciled in California but only temporarily away. If you spend more than nine months of the year in California, you are presumed to be a resident. For everyone else, the question is where your closest connections are. Publication 1031 lists ties such as time spent inside and outside California, where your spouse and children live, your principal residence, the state that issued your driver's license, where your vehicles are registered, your professional licenses, voter registration, your bank accounts, your doctors and accountants, your clubs, and the location of your real estate and investments. According to the publication, what counts is the strength of those ties, not their number.
Employees get a fixed rule: the safe harbor. If you are domiciled in California and are outside the state under an employment contract for an uninterrupted period of at least 546 consecutive days, you are treated as a nonresident. Visits to California of up to 45 days in the tax year do no harm, and an accompanying spouse is treated the same way. The safe harbor does not apply if your intangible income, such as interest and dividends, exceeds $200,000 in any year of the contract, or if the main purpose of the absence is to avoid income tax. Two consecutive contracts with a return in between cannot be added together.
One point makes California especially important for expats. California allows neither a foreign tax credit nor the foreign earned income exclusion. If you used the exclusion on your federal return, you add the amount back on your California return. So if you remain a resident, your salary from Europe is subject to California tax without credit for the European tax you pay. How the two methods work at the federal level is explained under FEIE or foreign tax credit.
Form 1040, FBAR and Streamlined for US citizens living in Europe.
4New York: domicile, 184 days and the 548-day rule
New York has two routes to residency. You are a resident if you are domiciled in New York. You are also a resident if you are domiciled elsewhere but maintain a permanent place of abode in New York for substantially all of the year (a permanently available dwelling suitable for year-round use, whether rented or owned) and spend 184 days or more there. Any part of a day counts as a day.
For expats who keep their New York domicile, the Instructions for Form IT-203 set out two ways out. Group A: during the year you maintain no permanent place of abode in New York, maintain one outside New York for the whole year, and spend no more than 30 days in New York. Group B, the 548-day rule: within a period of 548 consecutive days you are abroad on at least 450 days, you, your spouse and your minor children spend no more than 90 days in New York during that period, and in the partial years at the start and end of the period you stay below a prorated maximum number of days. If you meet these conditions, you are not a resident despite your New York domicile. The same domicile principles apply to New York City and Yonkers.
5Virginia: domiciliary residents, even abroad
Virginia distinguishes between actual residents and domiciliary residents. You are an actual resident if you live in Virginia for more than 183 days a year or maintain a home there. You are a domiciliary resident if Virginia is your legal home, even if you live somewhere else.
For expats, one example from Virginia Tax is decisive: a Virginia resident who takes a job in another country remains a domiciliary resident unless they take the steps needed to give up Virginia as their domicile. If you only go abroad temporarily and give nothing up, you do not even become a part-year resident. Virginia Tax also offers a rule of thumb: if you move away and return within six months, you have not shown an intent to establish a residence elsewhere.
6New Mexico: 185 days and the intent behind your absence
Under 3.3.1.9 NMAC, you are a New Mexico resident if you are domiciled in New Mexico for the whole year or, regardless of domicile, if you are physically present there 185 days or more in the year. If you are present fewer than 185 days in the year you leave and move your domicile with the genuine intent of living permanently elsewhere, you are a part-year resident.
The rule on absence is strictly worded. If you leave New Mexico intending to be away only for a limited time, you do not change your domicile, no matter how long the absence lasts, for example to fulfill a contract or achieve a specific purpose and then return. The department gives weight to your stated intent, but does not accept it if the facts and your conduct contradict it.
7South Carolina: one domicile until you have a new one
South Carolina taxes by domicile. The Department of Revenue's guide sums up the principles: a domicile remains until a new one is acquired in another state or country; merely being present somewhere else does not change it, even if the former home has been sold. An absence of months or years leaves the domicile in place if it is meant to be temporary. Intent is the most important element, but it is measured by conduct, and actions that are easily reversed count for less. Spouses generally share the same domicile.
For the year you move, South Carolina gives you a choice: you can treat yourself as a full-year resident and claim a credit for taxes paid to the other state, or file as a nonresident with Schedule NR and pay tax only on income from your time as a resident and from South Carolina sources.
8What your old state can still tax after you leave
Even as a nonresident, you remain taxable on income from sources in the state. If you keep a rented-out apartment in California or a business in South Carolina, you keep reporting that income there. Publication 1031 says so explicitly for California: as a nonresident, you are taxed only on income from California sources.
Federal law sets an important limit. Under 4 U.S.C. § 114, no state may tax the retirement income of a person who is neither a resident nor domiciled there. This covers, among other things, distributions from qualified plans under § 401(a), from 403(b) and 457 plans, from government plans and from IRAs. How these pensions are taxed in Europe is covered under Pensions across the Atlantic.
| Tie | California | New Mexico | South Carolina |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment or house: location, size, use | yes | yes | yes |
| Days spent in and outside the state | yes | yes | yes |
| Spouse and children | yes | yes | Presumption: same domicile as your spouse |
| Driver's license, vehicle registration, voter registration | yes | yes | yes |
| Bank accounts, doctors, accountants, clubs | yes | yes | yes |
| Stated intent | not decisive on its own | counts, but does not outweigh contrary facts | most important element, judged by your conduct |
Source: California Franchise Tax Board, Publication 1031 (2025), Section G; 3.3.1.9 NMAC, Section C; South Carolina Department of Revenue, Guide to Determining a Taxpayer's Domicile (June 2021), Sections IV and V. Summary, not an exhaustive list.
Your US tax question, answered by people who know both sides.
9What to do and what to keep when you move
No single step ends a domicile, but the authorities look at the same ties. The table above shows what California, New Mexico and South Carolina focus on. That gives you a practical checklist:
- Home: Sell or rent it out rather than leaving it empty, and document your new residence in Europe, for example with a lease and your local registration certificate.
- Driver's license, vehicle, voter registration: cancel or transfer them where possible. As an American abroad, you vote in federal elections using your last US address; according to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, that vote often cannot be the sole basis for state taxation. If you keep other ties as well, you may still remain taxable.
- Accounts, doctors, advisors, memberships: move them to where you live.
- Family: If your spouse and children stay in the state, that carries a lot of weight.
- Count your days: Keep records of your travel dates to the US: for California because of the 45 days, for New York because of the 90 days in a 548-day period.
- Final return: For the year you move, file a part-year resident return, such as Form 540NR in California or Form IT-203 in New York, and keep your moving records.
The deadlines are tied to your federal return. New York, for example, under the Instructions for Form IT-203, allows an extension beyond six months for taxpayers outside the US and for anyone relying on the 548-day rule. To see which deadlines apply to you, check the deadline calendar for Americans abroad.
- Federal tax follows citizenship; state tax follows domicile and residence. Moving to Europe ends neither one automatically.
- Your domicile stays until you establish a new one: California requires abandoning the old one, moving and intending to stay; New York requires clear and convincing evidence.
- California has a safe harbor for employment contracts abroad of 546 days or more, New York has the 548-day rule; Virginia, New Mexico and South Carolina stick with the domicile test.
- California allows neither the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion nor a Foreign Tax Credit. If you remain a resident there, your European salary is subject to California tax.
- Income from sources in the state remains taxable there. Under 4 U.S.C. § 114, a state may not tax nonresidents on 401(k) and IRA retirement income.
