Military claiming residence in FL.

I employ retired and reservists and everyone claims FL residency. Lots of tax advantage living there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe it's rental cars. There has been a clear uptick in these license plates over the last 6 months.

90% tax cheats, 10% legitimate. The IRS is so understaffed everyone will get away with it.

Am I missing something? Why would the IRS care if you say you live on FL? I thought FL residency helped people avoid state taxes.

You aren’t the one missing something.

Funny to see certain people immediately shriek tax cheats.

These people are just doing what the various state laws allow them. Florida makes it easy to establish residency and also doesn't demand that you spend six months +1 day in Florida. You just need to spend no more than six months + 1 day in any other single state. There's been a major "drain" of higher net worth people setting up residency in Florida because of the generous tax benefits. Have a property in Florida, a property somewhere for the summer, and keep your original residence in the DMV for seeing friends and your doctors. Or have a Florida PO box and spend most of the winter in the Bahamas/Caribbean and six months - 1 day in DMV. Still very legal. That's what my aunt and uncle do. They probably spend no more than six weeks of the year in Florida and the rest of the time is between MD and the Bahamas, but they're still legally Florida residents.

FYI you still pay property taxes where the property is. Once you declare residency in Florida or any state outside Maryland, you lose your homestead tax credits.

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe it's rental cars. There has been a clear uptick in these license plates over the last 6 months.

90% tax cheats, 10% legitimate. The IRS is so understaffed everyone will get away with it.

Am I missing something? Why would the IRS care if you say you live on FL? I thought FL residency helped people avoid state taxes.

Anonymous wrote:I also see many Texas plates in FCPS.

Also likely military. If military are ever based in FL or TX, they will keep that as their tax residence until retirement.

You don’t have to be in FL for six months and a day, you just have to be in DC less than 6 months out of the year. So, you can count vacations and weekends elsewhere, as well. If you have three residences and live in each 1/3 of the time, you can choose which jurisdiction is your residence. Everyone I know who does this keeps very careful track of their time in each place.

As for car registration, it should be registered in your place of residence. I know Alexandria, for example, provides reciprocity for car property taxes. You can go the courthouse and prove that you paid taxes in your home state, and they’ll give you a VA tax sticker.

As mentioned above, none of this applies to military, members of Congress (their residence is their home state), and a very limited number of Hill staff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of military people keep their Florida plates.

+1, I assume anybody with FL plates is military

Also why there are more Alaska plates than you would think.

I also see many Texas plates in FCPS.

We live in Florida and spend a lot of time in our DC condo, but mostly in the summer.

If they have their base residence in Florida, how come their kids attend FCPS?

They must be military. Military can declare a state of residency and keep that throughout their military career.

If they have their base residence in Florida, how come their kids attend FCPS?

Many people buy a second home and register cars in Florida to evade taxes.

They claim that they live in FL more than half the year so they can not pay state income tax (FL has no state income tax).

Lots of tax cheats.
Lots of DMV retirees who are snowbirds but kept their DMV house for the summers & holidays
Military and U.S. diplomats keep Florida residency to avoid state income taxes and car registration fees.

Anonymous wrote:No state income tax for Florida residents.

This. I’m a life long DC native and I “live in Florida” *wink