Polar Vortex Spurs Florida Domicile Change

BOCA RATON, Fla., March 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Hits on www.snowbirdguide.com have dramatically increased, according to the NY/FL law firm of Ward, Brenon, Lipman & Zarcone LLP, and that has likely been spurred on by record snow and temperatures up north. The site offers a complimentary online seminar answering questions most frequently asked by snowbirds with homes both in Fl and NY. It also includes most of the updated text originally published in How Snowbirds Avoid NY Taxes, authored by firm partner Allan Lipman.

"NY domicile auditors are very aggressive" cautions attorney Kelly Zarcone, a member of the NY and Fl bar. She offers several suggestions: "When you stop filing a Resident NY income tax return and expect to save a substantial amount of tax, you are likely to be targeted for a domicile audit. The auditor may wait to send an audit questionnaire until three years are at stake to make the audit more productive. Don't you wait! Prepare a domicile statement now detailing your reasons for making the change and what objective evidence you have to prove it. Include items on the domicile check list from our website. Start keeping a detailed daily diary not only to show the number of days spent outside of NY but also to show you spent lots more time in Fl than NY. Save all bank statements,  credit card statements, EZ pass and Sunpass statements, country club charges, and flight records since these are among the items that the auditor is apt to request. It will be much harder to locate these documents later, - - - if you have not already tossed them out. Assume the auditor is going to google you to discover any continuing ties to NY and minimize them. It will not help if it is discovered that you tweeted from Fl, 'I cannot wait to come back home to be with all my friends.' Stop referring to NY as your home. Do not go into an audit alone.  As soon as you receive your initial domicile questionnaire, call an experienced attorney qualified to assist you.  Seemingly innocuous answers may hurt you later."

A companion webinar at www.FL2NYTAX.com provides helpful hints for a surviving spouse returning up north, concerned about being subjected to NY income and estate taxes. "It may be possible to continue to be a Floridian even though living up north" according to John Brenon, co-commentator on both sites, who thinks that the Polar Vortex may cause many of them to think twice before moving back up north.

SOURCE Ward, Brenon, Lipman & Zarcone LLP