Moving to Honolulu from Washington State (rent, house, calculation)

[issaquahhiker]

I have searched the forums but have not seen this question.

My husband is accepting a position in Honolulu. He will rent and become a resident and pay HI income taxes on his wages.

We will keep our house in WA but due to my job circumstances, I will not be able to join him for at least a year. However I will travel to Hawaii frequently, sometimes working from Hawaii via laptop & cell phone. Will my wages be subject to HI income taxes?

Thanks for any insight anyone has!

[whynot?]

According to our accountant, it's more about where *you* spend the preponderance of your time. Apparently the state/locality in which your driver's license is issued, in which you vote, etc. is not the primary test of "residency" for tax purposes. It's where *you* spend most of your time.

Don't know how that works for joint filing, though, sorry.

Best of luck.

[issaquahhiker]

Thanks for the quick response. We had a similiar situation when we lived in Colorado where I was there full-time and my husband was out at sea more than 200 days a year so his wages were not subject to CO income tax. I'm sure HI will have some type of similiar calculation. I will keep hunting thru the tax code.

[mokeanne]

is your husband in the military? if he is then you might want to look into this. there was a tax thread a while back and someone kindly sent this to me.

President signs bill, aids military spouses

[issaquahhiker]

Nope, not military so we dont get to take advantage of this (great bill and deserved for military families). To be clear, Im not trying to avoid the taxes. My husband will pay them. And when I move there, I will certainly pay. However when I am living in WA, working in WA, I dont want to have to pay. Im guessing that means I can only visit HI a certain number of days so that I am not considered to be living and/or working there. I just need to find out what that magic number is!

Its going to be a very difficult time for a while. But we have to do it since my job is ending sometime next year and I will receive severance/retention dollars that will help us live in HI longer-term or retire some day.

[hotzcatz]

I'd guess whichever state you spend more time in. There's 365 days in a year so whichever state you spend 183 days in. At least this one is easy since it's a "here or there" sort of thing to think about. I haven't a clue what folks such as musicians who tour for a year would claim. I don't think they'd stay put long enough in any one place to actually be anywhere. At least, as far as taxes go. Of course, I'm not a tax person so my opinion is of no validity.

[HonuMan]

When I moved from Georgia to Washington and kept my same job as a telecommuter, it was straightforward: I paid taxes to Georgia for the time I worked in Georgia (9 months), and nothing for the time I worked in Washington (3 months), since Washington doesn't have a state income tax. When I moved to Oregon the following year, it was the same: I paid taxes to Oregon for the percentage of the year I lived in Oregon. Going back and forth between Washington and Hawaii would be more complex, though, and I imagine there would be some sort of threshold number of working days, and your legal state of residency would be a factor. In my current company, we have consultants who travel extensively and spend significant amounts of time in different states. There's some sort of multi-state tax form they have to fill out each year, so maybe that would apply to you. I'd call an H&R Block office or something similar in Hawaii. It's a simple question that they should be willing to answer for free.

[issaquahhiker]

I searched thru the tax code, posting this for the next person who searches this forum.
[SIZE=2][SIZE=2][LEFT]If an individual has been in Hawaii more than 200 days of the taxable year in the aggregate (not
consecutive), the individual is presumed to have been a resident of Hawaii from the time of the individual's arrival.
The presumption may be overcome if the individual rebuts the presumption with evidence satisfactory to the
Department of Taxation that the individual maintains a permanent place of abode outside of Hawaii and is in Hawaii
for a temporary or transitory purpose.[/LEFT]
[/SIZE][/SIZE]

[Dthraco]

Glad you found the info.

We moved here from Bellingham in Feb. LOVE it. We keep hearing from our mainland friends that this winter has been horrible. Congratz on your upcoming move.

[issaquahhiker]

Yes winter here was horrible and spring was not much different. Though I'm still convinced that the NW is going to have a fantastic summer this year!