When did I become a US tax resident — and when did I stop? Federal and New York

You arrived partway through the year, or you left. Two separate questions follow, and they are decided by different facts: whether you are a resident of the United States, and whether you are a resident of New York. They can disagree, and for someone who has just moved they often do.

This page answers when each status begins and ends. Once your status is settled, which returns you file across state lines is a separate question. Whether someone who keeps a home in New York is a resident at all — domicile, the day count, and what an auditor examines — is not answered here.

Two clocks, not one

The federal tests decide when you become a resident of the United States. New York decides its own residency on its own terms, and immigration status is not one of them. This is the fact most often got backwards, in both directions.

New York decides residency by domicile or by statutory residence, and neither test has immigration status among its criteria. The two questions therefore come apart in both directions: someone who is a nonresident alien for federal purposes can still be a New York resident, and a lawful permanent resident can be a New York nonresident. 20 NYCRR §105.20(d)(3) states the domicile half affirmatively — “Domicile is not dependent on citizenship; that is, an immigrant who has permanently established such immigrant’s home in New York State is domiciled here regardless of whether such immigrant has become a United States citizen or has applied for citizenship.” That is narrower than it may sound. New York’s Nonresident Audit Guidelines treat a green card as one of the subordinate indicators of intent where domicile is genuinely in dispute, and say those factors “are subordinate to the primary factors”. Status is not a criterion of either test; it remains admissible as evidence of intent.N.Y. Tax Law §605(a)(1), (b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(5); the whole section, (a) through (c), was read · 20 NYCRR §105.20, headed "Tax Law, § 605(b)(1)"; the whole section, (a) through (e), was read — quoted at (a)(2), (b)(2)(ii) and the flush text following it, (c), (d)(1)–(6) and (e)(1), and cited at (a), (d)(2) and (d)(3). Text relied on read at law.cornell.edu, which carries no currency stamp of any kind; the word-for-word identical copy at govt.westlaw.com/nycrr prints "Current through May 15, 2026" · Nonresident Audit Guidelines, December 2021, pp. 4-7, 9-12, 26, 29-30, 36-37, 42, 44, 46, 49-55, 86 and 91

The federal residency starting and ending dates under §7701(b) decide when a person becomes a resident of the United States. They do not decide New York. §605(b) defines resident, nonresident and part-year resident expressly, and §607(a) makes federal conformity “subject to the exceptions or modifications prescribed in this article or by statute” — §605(b) being exactly such a modification. This is not the same as saying the federal return is beside the point: §605(a)(1) makes the New York taxable year the federal one, §612 begins from federal adjusted gross income, and filing status on a New York return follows the federal return. What does not carry across is the date on which residency begins or ends.N.Y. Tax Law §605(a)(1), (b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(5); the whole section, (a) through (c), was read · N.Y. Tax Law §607(a) and (b); the whole section was read · N.Y. Tax Law §612 · N.Y. Tax Law §651(a)(3), (b)(2) and (b)(4); the whole section, (a) through (i), was read

Federal: what makes you a resident

The two tests

§7701(b)(1)(A) treats an alien as a resident of the United States for a calendar year “if (and only if)” the individual meets one of three requirements: lawful permanent residence, substantial presence, or the first-year election of §7701(b)(4). There is no fourth route — not intent, not domicile, not a state residency determination, not holding a Social Security number, not paying US tax. This is the first of the three: “Such individual is a lawful permanent resident of the United States at any time during such calendar year.” One day is enough, so a green card surrendered in January makes the holder a resident under this clause for the whole of that calendar year. §7701(b)(6)(B) is the half that surprises people: the status holds while it “has not been revoked (and has not been administratively or judicially determined to have been abandoned)”, so abandonment is not self-executing, and a card left unused for years still confers the status until a revocation or such a determination has occurred.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

§7701(b)(3)(A) sets two conditions and both must hold. The individual must have been “present in the United States on at least 31 days during the calendar year” — a current-year floor standing on its own, so without it there is no substantial presence whatever the three-year history. And the days of presence in the current year and the two preceding calendar years, each multiplied by the applicable multiplier in the statute’s table — the current year in full, the first preceding year at one third, the second preceding year at one sixth — must “equal or exceed 183 days”. That figure is a weighted three-year total rather than a count of days actually spent here, and reaching it makes an individual a resident. One paragraph away, §7701(b)(3)(B) contains a second 183 that is an unweighted count of current-year days and works in the opposite direction: staying under that one is a precondition to escaping residency. Conflating the two inverts the answer. Meeting this test is also not the end of the enquiry, because the closer-connection exception can unmeet it, and days excluded under §7701(b)(3)(D) and §7701(b)(7) never entered the sum at all.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

A day of physical presence is a whole day: §7701(b)(7)(A) counts an individual as present “if such individual is physically present in the United States at any time during such day”, so a brief stop is a full day. Four provisions subtract from that baseline. §7701(b)(3)(D)(ii) removes a day on which the individual “was unable to leave the United States on such day because of a medical condition which arose while such individual was present in the United States” — the condition must have arisen here, so a pre-existing one that worsens is outside it. §7701(b)(7)(B) removes a day on which an individual “regularly commutes to employment (or self-employment) in the United States from a place of residence in Canada or Mexico”. §7701(b)(7)(C) removes a day on which an individual in transit between two points outside the United States is physically present “for less than 24 hours”, so repeated connections through a US airport add no days at all. And §7701(b)(7)(D) removes a day for a regular crew member of a foreign vessel engaged in transportation between the United States and a foreign country or a possession, “unless such individual otherwise engages in any trade or business in the United States on such day”, which is a condition rather than a gloss. These are days that never enter the arithmetic, which is a different mechanism from the closer-connection exception — that one leaves the days in the sum and negates the conclusion instead.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

§7701(b)(3)(D)(i) does not discount an exempt individual’s days or weight them to nothing; it provides that the individual “shall not be treated as being present in the United States” on such a day. The day never enters the weighted sum, in the current-year term or in either preceding-year term — a student in year four does not have a small number, they have no number. Who is exempt is a closed list of four at §7701(b)(5)(A): a foreign government-related individual; a teacher or trainee temporarily present under subparagraph (J) or (Q) of §101(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act other than as a student; a student temporarily present under subparagraph (F) or (M), or under (J) or (Q) as a student; and a professional athlete temporarily present to compete in a charitable sports event. Because the list is closed, everyone outside it is present in the ordinary way, and the categories are statutory rather than visa classes — a J visa holder present as a student is a student here and one who is not is a teacher or trainee, and it is the category and not the visa letter that selects the limitation. Two limitations apply, and neither is a “first N years” rule. Under §7701(b)(5)(E)(ii) a student ceases to be exempt “for any calendar year after the 5th calendar year for which an individual was an exempt individual” as a student or as a teacher or trainee — a cumulative count wherever those years fall, on a counter shared between the two categories, so years spent in one consume the other’s allowance — and it is rebuttable, since the individual remains exempt on establishing to the Secretary’s satisfaction both that they do not intend to reside permanently in the United States and that they still meet §7701(b)(5)(D)(ii). Under §7701(b)(5)(E)(i) a teacher or trainee ceases to be exempt where they were exempt “for any 2 calendar years during the preceding 6 calendar years”, a rolling lookback rather than a fixed opening period, with “4 calendar years” substituted for “2 calendar years” where all of the individual’s compensation is described in §872(b)(3). Any part of a calendar year spends the whole year.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

The ways out, and the day the clock starts

Meeting a test is not the end of it. Two provisions can unmeet it, and residency is a period rather than a yes or no for the year.

§7701(b)(3)(B) is an exception to the conclusion rather than an exclusion of days: the days still count, the weighted sum still clears the threshold, and the individual is nevertheless “not ... treated as meeting” the substantial presence test where two things hold together. The first is that the individual “is present in the United States on fewer than 183 days during the current year” — actual current-year days, unweighted, and a different figure from the weighted three-year total that produced residency in the first place. Someone physically present 200 days this year cannot use the exception however strong the foreign ties, and someone at 182 may, even with a weighted sum far above. The second is that it be established that for the current year the individual has a tax home in a foreign country, as defined in §911(d)(3) without regard to the second sentence of that provision, and “a closer connection to such foreign country than to the United States.” §7701(b)(3)(C) then switches the exception off entirely for anyone who at any time during the year “had an application for adjustment of status pending” or “took other steps to apply for status as a lawful permanent resident of the United States” — so an individual pursuing permanent residence is barred from the position, and “other steps” is wider than a filed application.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

The sentence closing §7701(b)(6) ends lawful permanent resident status on three conditions, and they are conjunctive: the individual “commences to be treated as a resident of a foreign country under the provisions of a tax treaty between the United States and the foreign country”, “does not waive the benefits of such treaty applicable to residents of the foreign country”, and “notifies the Secretary of the commencement of such treatment.” The notification is a condition of the cessation rather than a formality that follows it, so a treaty position taken and never reported has not met the third. And the sentence ends that one status. §7701(b)(1)(A) has three independent clauses and this reaches only the first, so an individual who takes a tie-breaker position and is also present enough to meet the substantial presence test of the second remains a US resident. Becoming a nonresident alien requires all three of those clauses to fail.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

§7701(b)(2) makes residency a period rather than a yes or no for the calendar year. An individual who is a resident this year and was not a resident at any time in the preceding year is treated as a resident “only for the portion of such calendar year which begins on the residency starting date”, and which date that is depends on the clause that made them a resident: the first day of presence in the year while a lawful permanent resident, for a green card holder not meeting substantial presence; the first day of presence in the year, for one meeting substantial presence; and the day fixed by §7701(b)(4)(C), for the first-year election. Residency ends before the year does only where three conditions all hold — the portion falls after the last day of presence, or for a lawful permanent resident after the last day of that status; “during such portion the individual has a closer connection to a foreign country than to the United States”; and “the individual is not a resident of the United States at any time during the next calendar year.” That third condition is retrospective: it cannot be known when the return is prepared, and a return to the United States the following year unwinds the position. Up to 10 days of presence are disregarded for two of those determinations where a closer connection to a foreign country is established for the period. This bears directly on an S corporation, because §1361(b)(1)(C) is not an annual snapshot and §1362(d)(2)(B) makes a termination effective on the date of cessation — so the day residency begins or ends is the day an election survives or does not.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

§7701(b)(4) is the third way of being a resident rather than a planning device alongside the other two, and it sets four conditions that must hold together: the individual is not a resident under the green card or substantial presence clauses for the election year; was not a resident under §7701(b)(1)(A) for the preceding year; is a resident by substantial presence for the year following; and was “present in the United States for a period of at least 31 consecutive days in the election year” and present for at least 75 percent of the days in the testing period running from the first day of that block to the end of the year, with absences “not exceeding 5 days in the aggregate” forgiven. Residency does not begin on the arrival date. §7701(b)(4)(C) begins it “on the 1st day of the earliest testing period during such year” that satisfies that fourth condition — the first day of a qualifying block of consecutive days — so someone who lands, leaves for a month and returns does not start on the day they landed. And the election cannot be made when the return is ordinarily due: §7701(b)(4)(E) requires it to be made on the election-year return, and provides that it “may not be made before the individual has met the substantial presence test ... with respect to the calendar year immediately following the election year”, a condition that matures after that return’s ordinary due date. Days excluded because the individual is an exempt individual are excluded from these counts too, and once made the election remains in effect for the election year unless revoked with the Secretary’s consent.26 U.S.C. §7701(b)

New York: when the status changes

New York does not borrow the federal dates. It has its own trigger, and its own way of handling a year that splits.

A change of New York resident status is triggered under §639(e) where an individual “changes his or her status from a resident to nonresident or from a nonresident to resident during a taxable year, or at the beginning of a taxable year, as a result of a change of domicile or as a result of becoming a resident or nonresident based on the definition contained in subsection (b) of section six hundred five of this article.” Both timings attach to both routes; the sentence contains no device pairing one with the other, so a change of domicile is not confined to mid-year and a §605(b) change is not confined to a year boundary. The second route also subsumes the first, since domicile is itself a limb of the §605(b) definition — they are belt and braces rather than two separate doors.N.Y. Tax Law §639(e); the whole section, (a) through (h), was read · N.Y. Tax Law §605(a)(1), (b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(5); the whole section, (a) through (c), was read

A New York domicile continues until a new one is established elsewhere. 20 NYCRR §105.20(d)(2) states it as a rule about persistence rather than about proof, and the practical effect is that leaving is not by itself arriving: until a domicile is acquired somewhere else, the former one stands. What makes a new domicile established — the factors weighed, the standard applied, and what an auditor examines — is a separate question from when the change takes effect, and is not answered here.20 NYCRR §105.20, headed "Tax Law, § 605(b)(1)"; the whole section, (a) through (e), was read — quoted at (a)(2), (b)(2)(ii) and the flush text following it, (c), (d)(1)–(6) and (e)(1), and cited at (a), (d)(2) and (d)(3). Text relied on read at law.cornell.edu, which carries no currency stamp of any kind; the word-for-word identical copy at govt.westlaw.com/nycrr prints "Current through May 15, 2026" · Nonresident Audit Guidelines, December 2021, pp. 4-7, 9-12, 26, 29-30, 36-37, 42, 44, 46, 49-55, 86 and 91

New York does not have a third residency status. §605(b)(5) defines a part-year resident individual as “an individual who is not a resident or nonresident for the entire taxable year”, and §605(b)(2) defines a nonresident as “an individual who is not a resident or a part-year resident.” The three are defined by negation, are mutually exclusive, and between them exhaust the year. A part-year resident is therefore a person whose single taxable year splits into a period of residence and a period of nonresidence, not a person holding a distinct status of their own.N.Y. Tax Law §605(a)(1), (b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(5); the whole section, (a) through (c), was read · IT-203-I (2025), Who must file; Nonresidents: New York source income; Part-year residents: New York source income; How are you taxed as a nonresident or as a part-year resident?; Item A (filing status); Item G; Item H; Line 6 (Business income or loss), Business carried on in New York State, Business carried on both in and out of New York State; Definitions (Nonresident, Part-year resident)

The two periods are computed separately and then added. §638(a) computes the resident period under the rules for residents, “as if the taxpayer’s taxable year for federal income tax purposes were limited to the period of residence”, and computes the nonresident period under the nonresident sourcing rules on the same as-if basis. The result is one figure for the year. How income is allocated within each period, which credits survive the split, and how items accruing at the moment of change are treated are separate mechanics not addressed here.N.Y. Tax Law §638(a); the whole section, (a) through (c), was read · IT-203-I (2025), Who must file; Nonresidents: New York source income; Part-year residents: New York source income; How are you taxed as a nonresident or as a part-year resident?; Item A (filing status); Item G; Item H; Line 6 (Business income or loss), Business carried on in New York State, Business carried on both in and out of New York State; Definitions (Nonresident, Part-year resident)

Both periods are reported on a single New York return, Form IT-203, with the date of the move entered on the form. This is worth stating because 20 NYCRR §154.1 still directs a part-year resident to file two returns — an IT-201 for the resident portion and an IT-203 for the nonresident period — together with a Form IT-360. That regulation has been overtaken on this point: §638(a) sums the periods into one figure, and the Department’s current instructions take one return. A reader who follows the cross-reference at 20 NYCRR §151.10(b)(1) into Part 154 will land on filing mechanics that no longer describe current practice.N.Y. Tax Law §651(a)(3), (b)(2) and (b)(4); the whole section, (a) through (i), was read · Filing Information for New York State part-year residents, opening paragraph (updated November 30, 2023) · IT-203-I (2025), Who must file; Nonresidents: New York source income; Part-year residents: New York source income; How are you taxed as a nonresident or as a part-year resident?; Item A (filing status); Item G; Item H; Line 6 (Business income or loss), Business carried on in New York State, Business carried on both in and out of New York State; Definitions (Nonresident, Part-year resident)

What a split year costs

Two consequences follow directly from the statute, and the second of them is undone by the election in the next section — which is why they are stated together rather than apart.

§63(c)(6)(B) provides that in the case of a nonresident alien individual “the standard deduction shall be zero.” The provision carries no temporal qualifier — unlike §6013(a)(1) in the same area, which says “at any time during the taxable year” in terms — so the statute states the consequence for a nonresident alien and leaves the treatment of a year split between statuses to be worked out from elsewhere.26 U.S.C. §63(c)(6)(B)

A spouse treated as a United States resident for the whole year under a §6013(g) or §6013(h) election is not in a split-status year at all. 26 CFR §1.871-13(a)(1), which sets out the two-period treatment for a year of changed residence, closes by providing that “This section does not apply to alien individuals treated as residents for the entire taxable year under section 6013 (g) or (h). These individuals are taxed under the rules in § 1.1-1(b).” Because the election treats the spouse as a resident for purposes of chapter 1 for the entire year, and §63 sits in chapter 1, the zero standard deduction for a nonresident alien does not reach them.26 U.S.C. §63(c)(6)(B) · 26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · 26 CFR §1.871-13(a)(1) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6

§6013(a)(1) provides that “no joint return shall be made if either the husband or wife at any time during the taxable year is a nonresident alien”. The bar is not absolute. 26 CFR §1.6013-1(b) states the exception in the same breath: a joint return shall not be made where either spouse is at any time during the year a nonresident alien, “unless an election is in effect for the taxable year under section 6013 (g) or (h) and the regulations thereunder.” Read without that clause the provision closes a door the regulations expressly leave open.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-1(b)

If your spouse is still abroad

This is the most consequential choice on the page, and the part of it that matters most is not what the election does in the year you make it. It is how long it lasts.

The §6013(g) election is available, under §6013(g)(2), with respect to an individual “who, at the close of the taxable year for which an election under this subsection was made, was a nonresident alien individual married to a citizen or resident of the United States, if both of them made such election to have the benefits of this subsection apply to them.” Two things follow. The status is tested at the close of the taxable year, not on the date of the marriage or of arrival. And both spouses must elect — one cannot make it alone.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h)

The election is what allows a couple to file a joint federal return. The statute alone leaves this in doubt: §6013(a)(1) sits in chapter 61, while §6013(g)(1) treats the electing spouse as a resident for purposes of chapters 1 and 24. The regulation closes the gap by naming the provision itself. 26 CFR §1.6013-6(a)(1) provides that “each spouse is treated as a resident of the United States for purposes of chapters 1, 5, and 24 and sections 6012, 6013, 6072, and 6091 of the Code for the entire taxable year”, and 26 CFR §1.6013-1(b) states the carve-out from the joint-return bar directly.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-1(b) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6

What the election does is enumerated rather than general. §6013(g)(1) treats the electing spouse as a resident of the United States for purposes of chapter 1, income tax, and chapter 24, wage withholding, for the entire taxable year; 26 CFR §1.6013-6(a)(1) adds chapter 5 and four named filing provisions. It does not make the spouse a resident for every purpose of the Code, and it has no operation on immigration status or on a State’s own residency determination.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6 · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-1(b)

The election is not made year by year. Under §6013(g)(3) it applies to the taxable year for which it is made and to all subsequent taxable years until terminated. This is the point most often missed at the moment of election: a couple choosing it for one advantageous year has chosen it for every year afterwards unless something ends it.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6

How it ends, and what closes behind it

A year in which neither spouse is a United States citizen or resident suspends the election rather than ending it. §6013(g)(3) provides that the election shall not apply for any taxable year if neither spouse is a citizen or resident of the United States at any time during that year. 26 CFR §1.6013-6(a)(3) confirms that the election revives of itself when one of them is again a citizen or resident, with no fresh election required. Suspension and termination are different events with different consequences, and only termination engages the bar on electing again.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6

§6013(g)(4) ends the election at the earliest of four events: revocation by either taxpayer; the death of either spouse; legal separation under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance; and termination by the Secretary. The last is supplied by §6013(g)(5), which reaches a failure to keep books and records, to grant access to them, or to supply other information, where these are “reasonably necessary to ascertain the amount of liability for taxes under chapter 1”. Each of the four takes effect at its own time, and the effective date is not uniform across them.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6

Once terminated, the election cannot be made again. §6013(g)(6) provides that where an election is terminated under paragraph (4) or (5), the individuals “shall be ineligible to make an election under this subsection for any subsequent taxable year.” This is the fact most needed before electing rather than after. Note that the statute expresses the bar as falling on the couple, while 26 CFR §1.6013-6(a)(1) expresses it as falling on either spouse individually — which on the regulation’s wording would follow a person into a later marriage. That divergence is not resolved here, and a client for whom it matters should be told the point is unsettled rather than given either reading as settled.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6

A spouse who makes the election gives up the ability to claim otherwise under a treaty. 26 CFR §1.6013-6(a)(2)(v) provides that an individual who makes an election under that section “may not, for United States income tax purposes, claim under any United States income tax treaty not to be a U.S. resident.” Nothing in §6013 itself says this. It is worth separating from the treaty tie-breaker that ends lawful permanent resident status: that is a different mechanism reaching a different group of people, and it is not a route available to an electing spouse.Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6

The arrival-year election is a different door

A second election exists for the year someone becomes a resident. It is not the same provision, and using up one does not use up the other.

§6013(h) provides a separate election for the year in which a nonresident alien becomes a United States resident, allowing that individual to be treated as a resident for the whole of the year. 26 CFR §1.6013-7(a)(1) states the qualifying case broadly enough to cover a couple who are both nonresident aliens at the beginning of the year and both United States citizens or residents on its last day, as well as the case of a single arriving spouse. Like the §6013(g) election, what it confers is enumerated rather than general.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-7

§6013(h)(2) provides that where an election under that subsection applies for two individuals for any taxable year, they “shall be ineligible to make an election under this subsection for any subsequent taxable year.” Unlike the §6013(g) bar, this one is not engaged by termination — it is engaged by use. Having the election apply for a single year spends it.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-7

The two elections carry separate one-election bars, and neither spends the other. §6013(g)(6) and §6013(h)(2) each make the individuals ineligible to elect again “under this subsection”, so a couple whose §6013(g) election has terminated is not thereby barred from the §6013(h) election, nor the reverse. The triggers differ as well: the §6013(g) bar is engaged only by termination, while the §6013(h) bar is engaged by the election having applied for a year at all.26 U.S.C. §6013(a), (g) and (h) · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-6 · Treas. Reg. §1.6013-7

What New York does with a federal election

Filing status on a New York return is the status used on the federal return. 20 NYCRR §151.10(b)(1) provides that “The Federal rules for determining whether a husband and wife qualify for filing a joint Federal income tax return also apply for New York State personal income tax purposes.” This governs filing status only. It does not make New York follow the federal residency determination, which §605(b) decides on its own terms.N.Y. Tax Law §651(a)(3), (b)(2) and (b)(4); the whole section, (a) through (i), was read · N.Y. Tax Law §607(a) and (b); the whole section was read · 20 NYCRR §151.10(b)(1) and (c), headed "Tax Law, § 651(b)" · IT-203-I (2025), Who must file; Nonresidents: New York source income; Part-year residents: New York source income; How are you taxed as a nonresident or as a part-year resident?; Item A (filing status); Item G; Item H; Line 6 (Business income or loss), Business carried on in New York State, Business carried on both in and out of New York State; Definitions (Nonresident, Part-year resident)

Where one spouse is a New York resident for the whole year and the other is a nonresident or a part-year resident, §651(b)(4) requires separate New York returns unless both elect to be taxed as residents. The election is joint: one spouse cannot make it alone. Note that 20 NYCRR §151.10(c)(1)(ii) conditions the election on each spouse having maintained resident or nonresident status “during the entire taxable year”, which would exclude a part-year resident spouse whom the statute admits in terms. The statute governs.N.Y. Tax Law §651(a)(3), (b)(2) and (b)(4); the whole section, (a) through (i), was read · IT-203-I (2025), Who must file; Nonresidents: New York source income; Part-year residents: New York source income; How are you taxed as a nonresident or as a part-year resident?; Item A (filing status); Item G; Item H; Line 6 (Business income or loss), Business carried on in New York State, Business carried on both in and out of New York State; Definitions (Nonresident, Part-year resident)

Electing under §6013(g) to treat a nonresident alien spouse as a resident of the United States does not make that spouse a New York resident. The federal election operates on United States residency; New York residency is decided by §605(b), on domicile or statutory residence. Filing status on the New York return still follows the federal return, so the election can change how a couple files in New York without changing where either of them is resident. New York has published no guidance addressing the election directly, and nothing here should be read as more than the consequence of those two provisions sitting side by side.N.Y. Tax Law §605(a)(1), (b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(5); the whole section, (a) through (c), was read · N.Y. Tax Law §607(a) and (b); the whole section was read · 20 NYCRR §151.10(b)(1) and (c), headed "Tax Law, § 651(b)"

Where this stops

Whether you are a New York resident at all — domicile, the factors weighed, the day count for someone who keeps a place to live here, and what the Department examines on audit — is not answered on this page. It is a separate question from when a change takes effect, and it rests on case law and audit guidance rather than on statute alone.

Preparing the return for a split year — how income is allocated between the two periods, which credits survive, and what statement must be attached — is not covered. That material rests on an IRS publication rather than on primary authority, and nothing on this page should be read as stating it. Expatriation and the exit tax are not covered at all.

One point is genuinely unsettled and is flagged rather than resolved. The statute bars a terminated spouse election from being made again by the same two people, while the regulation bars it to either spouse individually — which on its wording would follow a person into a later marriage. A client for whom that matters should be told the point is open. New York has published nothing addressing the federal spouse election directly; what appears above is the consequence of two provisions read side by side, not guidance.

Myung Keon Kim CPA prepares and files New York and New Jersey returns. Nothing here is advice on immigration status, which these tests do not determine and are not determined by.

Rendered from 32 verified records. Last verified: 2026-09-08