You Moved to Florida — and You Still Owe Your Old State
Why moving to a state with no income tax does not cancel what you owe the state you left, and which taxes you still pay in Florida, Texas and Nevada.
You Moved to Florida — and You Still Owe Your Old State
The same story repeats every spring. Someone moves to Florida or Texas in October, celebrates the end of state income tax — and in March gets a bill from the state they left behind.
Here is what actually changes when you make that move, and what does not.
Eight states with no personal income tax
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming.
New Hampshire has only just joined the list: there is no personal income tax there for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024. That makes 2025 the first fully tax-free year.
Washington stands apart: it has no income tax either, but it does tax capital gains — more on that below.
What moving does not cancel
The year gets split, not wiped clean. If you lived in Illinois for nine months and in Florida for three, Illinois taxes the income earned during its nine months. You will have to file a part-year resident return with your old state.
Income sourced to your old state stays its income. Renting out an apartment in New York? You keep filing a nonresident return there — twenty years later, if that is how long you keep the apartment. The same goes for an ownership stake in a business that operates in your old state.
Your moving date has to be provable. Sold stock in December at a large gain? Your old state is certain to check where you were living on the day of the sale.
Domicile does not change on its own. New York and California are the strictest about this — and their approaches are not the same.
New York tests domicile against five primary factors, spelled out directly in its Nonresident Audit Guidelines: the home, business ties, time, items "near and dear," and family. No single factor settles the question by itself. The burden of proving a change of domicile falls on the taxpayer, and the standard of proof is clear and convincing evidence.
California does not apply New York's five-factor test. It asks whether the person is in the state for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, and it weighs where that person's closest connections are concentrated. Under FTB Pub. 1031 the list of factors is longer and open-ended, and what counts is the strength of the ties, not the arithmetic.
California also has its own safe harbor: a resident who works abroad under an employment contract for an uninterrupted period of at least 546 days is treated as a nonresident, provided the conditions are met. New York has no equivalent rule.
A Florida Declaration of Domicile helps, but it is not armor. Under Florida Statute 222.17 you can file a sworn statement with the county court declaring that Florida is your "predominant and principal home." The document is worth putting on record, but you need to understand how much weight it carries: New York's audit guidelines say plainly that formal declarations are less persuasive than a person's actual general habit of life.
What you will owe in your new state
"No income tax" does not mean "no taxes at all" — especially if you own a business.
| State | What a business pays |
|---|---|
| Florida | corporate income tax of 5.5%; separately, a tangible personal property return (TPP, Form DR-405) due April 1 with the county property appraiser — filed by sole proprietors, self-employed individuals, contractors and owners of rental property. The exemption is $25,000 of assessed value; after your first return is filed the county may waive the requirement, and if it does, it sends you a letter to that effect by February 1 |
| Texas | franchise tax on "margin"; does not reach sole proprietors or partnerships made up of individuals |
| Nevada | commerce tax, if gross revenue exceeds $4,000,000 |
| Tennessee | business tax once revenue reaches $100,000, plus franchise tax of 0.25% and excise tax of 6.5% |
| New Hampshire | BET of 0.55% on a base above $298,000 and BPT of 7.5% on income above $109,000 |
| Alaska | corporate income tax ranging from 0% to 9.4% |
Add sales tax, which usually runs higher in these states: Tennessee 7%, Nevada 6.85%, Florida 6% plus county surtaxes, Texas 6.25% plus up to 2% in local tax. Alaska has no statewide sales tax but does have local ones; New Hampshire has none at all.
And property tax is everywhere — in Texas it has traditionally been high, and it largely makes up for the absence of an income tax.
Washington is a case of its own
There is no income tax, but since 2022 the state has taxed capital gains on the sale of long-term assets: stocks, bonds, business interests.
So "I moved to Washington and sold my business tax-free" does not work.
A bonus for anyone heading to Alaska
The state distributes part of the earnings of its Permanent Fund to residents. The dividend for 2025 is $1,000 per person. The state does not tax it, but it is taxable at the federal level — you have to report it on your return.
A mover's checklist
Sources
Agency websites: floridarevenue.com, comptroller.texas.gov, tax.nv.gov, tn.gov/revenue, revenue.nh.gov, dor.wa.gov (Capital Gains Tax section), tax.alaska.gov and pfd.alaska.gov.
If a move is coming up in the next few months, it is better to run the numbers in advance: shifting the date by a few weeks sometimes changes the amount substantially. Book a consultation.
