The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of millions of individuals. Forced to work remotely, many people decided the time was finally right to move out of New York state to environments that were friendlier to their new lifestyles. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has indicated that it intends to audit those people who change their filing status starting with 2020 or 2021, whether due to a change in domicile or a reallocation of their days worked in New York state. The department has already begun issuing letters questioning nonresidents that changed their 2020 allocation of days worked inside New York—the letters questioning change of domicile cannot be far behind.

The difficulties most individuals will have in carrying out a change of residency are reflected in the recent determination of an administrative law judge in Boniface, DTA 829018 (N.Y. Div. Tax App., April 29, 2021). The Bonifaces had filed a 2013 Form IT-203 (New York State Nonresident and Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return) claiming a change in domicile from New York to Florida as of June 11, 2013.