This is the archive of CPA Now blogs posted on the PICPA website through April 30, 2025. Want more recent blogs?

Read current blogs

By Veronica A. Caputo, CPA | Grant Thornton LLP

You worked, you saved, and now you can retire. Florida beckons to you. You pack up and move to the Land of the Mouse and of no personal income tax. But as you soak up the sun you get a notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (DOR) for nonfiling/nonpayment. Why?

You likely received the notice because you kept your Pennsylvania house. The DOR still has you listed as a resident because it lists your Pennsylvania property as your domicile.

The ideas of “residency” and “domicile” are specifically defined for personal income tax (PIT) purposes, and breaking Pennsylvania residency isn’t as easy as buying a home in Florida and driving down. The Pennsylvania DOR provides a guide on what creates residency and how your state of domicile is determined. In general, you must consider the following items to determine your residency.

Am I a Pennsylvania resident?

The answer is generally yes if you are domiciled within the commonwealth, unless you ...

• Did not maintain a permanent abode in the state, and
• Did maintain a permanent abode in another state, and
• Did not spend more than 30 days in Pennsylvania

Am I domiciled in Pennsylvania?

This is the tricky question. The answer is generally yes if ...

• Your only home is in Pennsylvania, or
• You maintain homes in both Pennsylvania and Florida, and your greatest connections and/or intent is to make Pennsylvania your main home. For purposes of this test, connections include ...
  -- Time
  -- Supporting spouse and/or children
  -- Location of doctors/lawyers/accountants/etc.
  -- Where your pets live (yes really!)
  -- Where you maintain your bank accounts, your church connections, where you vote, your driver’s license
  -- Where you claim a homestead exemption
  (Note: The guide referenced above includes 29 items to consider)
• If you spend more than 183 days in Pennsylvania during the tax year

You can only have one domicile at any point in time, but you can change your domicile. To support your change in domicile to Florida, you should document your intent to abandon your former Pennsylvania home as your primary home; your intent to make your Florida home your primary home (new domicile); and your physical presence in Florida. To support this domicile change, you should to review the 29 items in the guide, and analyze your connections to determine if your greatest connections are now in Florida.

Even if you become a resident of Florida, as a nonresident of Pennsylvania you may still be subject to the state’s PIT on the following:

• Income earned while a Pennsylvania part-year resident
• Compensation for services performed in Pennsylvania (watch out for deferred compensation paid after a change in domicile)
• Business income from sources within Pennsylvania
• Income from the sale of tangible property in Pennsylvania
• Payments for rents, royalties, patents, or copyrights for property used in Pennsylvania
• Certain estate or trust income
• Gambling/lottery payments

This blog post may not answer all of your questions, but hopefully it gives you some things to consider.

Veronica Caputo, CPA, is a senior manager in the state and local tax department of Grant Thornton LLP. She is an active member of the PICPA State and Local Tax Committee and a frequent speaker and author on local tax issues. She is a speaker at the PICPA Conference on Pennsylvania Taxes.