When should I bring a residency question to a CPA?

Before the move, if there is a choice. The records that support a residency position are easiest to gather while you are creating them and hardest to reconstruct once a notice has arrived. We take engagements at any stage, including after an examination has opened, but the earlier the file is started the less of it has to be rebuilt from memory.

What does a residency engagement involve?

We review your circumstances against the tests that apply to them, set out which return positions are available to you and what each one depends on, and put in writing the documentation that would support the position you choose. Where the answer is unfavourable, we say so rather than filing a position we could not defend.

Can you represent me if New York examines my residency?

Yes. We prepare the response, assemble the supporting file, and correspond with the Department on your behalf under a filed authorization. Representation is available whether or not we prepared the return under examination.

Do you work with people arriving in the United States, not only those leaving New York?

Yes. Arrival questions — a first year in the United States, a change of immigration status partway through a year, a spouse still abroad — are a substantial part of this practice, and we handle them in Korean as well as English.

New York Residency & Tax Domicile Services

Residency and domicile questions decide whether New York taxes all of your income or only the part connected to the state, and the difference is rarely small. Myung Keon Kim CPA takes on residency analysis, documentation planning, and audit representation for people leaving New York, living across state lines, or arriving in the United States for the first time.

This page describes the engagement. The rules it works from are set out in our guide Am I a New York resident?, where every figure comes from a cited primary source. Two companion guides answer which return you file when you live in one state and work in another, and when US residency starts and ends.

Who we work with

People who have moved out of New York, or are planning to, and want to know what their position actually rests on. People who live in one state and work in another. People who kept a place in New York after leaving. People arriving from abroad who are working out which of their income the United States now reaches. In each case the facts decide the answer, and the facts are what we start with.

What the engagement produces

A written analysis of your circumstances, the return positions available to you, and what each one would require you to be able to show. Where a position is available but thin, we say which part is thin. Where a client wants a conclusion the facts will not carry, we decline it — a position we could not defend on examination is not worth the filing.

Documentation planning

Most of what supports a residency position is created long before anyone asks for it, by people who are not thinking about tax at the time. We set out what to keep and how to keep it, so that the file exists as a contemporaneous record rather than as a reconstruction assembled under deadline. Clients who start this before a move spend markedly less on it than clients who start after a notice.

Representation on examination

New York examines residency claims, and an examination is a documentary exercise. We prepare the response, assemble and index the supporting file, and deal with the Department directly under a filed authorization, so that correspondence goes to us rather than to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I bring a residency question to a CPA?: Before the move, if there is a choice. The records that support a residency position are easiest to gather while you are creating them and hardest to reconstruct once a notice has arrived. We take engagements at any stage, including after an examination has opened, but the earlier the file is started the less of it has to be rebuilt from memory.
What does a residency engagement involve?: We review your circumstances against the tests that apply to them, set out which return positions are available to you and what each one depends on, and put in writing the documentation that would support the position you choose. Where the answer is unfavourable, we say so rather than filing a position we could not defend.
Can you represent me if New York examines my residency?: Yes. We prepare the response, assemble the supporting file, and correspond with the Department on your behalf under a filed authorization. Representation is available whether or not we prepared the return under examination.
Do you work with people arriving in the United States, not only those leaving New York?: Yes. Arrival questions — a first year in the United States, a change of immigration status partway through a year, a spouse still abroad — are a substantial part of this practice, and we handle them in Korean as well as English.