Okay so I have spent this entire year so far commerical fishing in Alaska and have a few questions on taxes. Although I am currently a Montana resident I have not stepped foot in the state or earned a penny in Montana this year. I'm currently at home with my family in Illinois and planning to move to Hawaii later this year. Does anyone know if i will have to pay the mt state income tax of something around 7% if I never even go to there this year? I believe I may be eligible for an Ak ID after working there for almost 9 months (with a po box) and I know ak doesn't have state income tax so that would be ideal, although I'm currently out of state. Was hoping to figure this all out soon so I could register to vote, but currently hoping to avoid paying Montana several thousand dollars just for that privilege. If anyone has any advice or could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.
-
FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.
Commercial fisherman doesn't live in residency state doesn't want to pay taxes to that state
- Thread starter Luke Skee
- Start date
Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills Please click a topic or scroll down for more.
Just Blue
Senior Member
I tagged @Taxing Matters , a site vetted tax attorney to look at your thread.
Awesome thx
Taxing Matters
Overtaxed Member
You say you are a Montana resident but have not even spent one minute in the state at all in 2020 so far. So what ties do you still have in that state? Do you own a home there? Are you still registered to vote there? Do you still have your driver's license as a Montana license? Are your vehicles still registered in Montana? Do you have a spouse/minor children who are in your custody still living in the state? Any other connections to the state that you've had this year?
Yes so my license and super crappy old car are both Montana registered. They are my only ties. My vehicle has been used by my little brother in Ill for over a year.
Taxing Matters
Overtaxed Member
And the address on your driver's license and vehicle registration is not a place that you now own or rent? Who lives at that place now, and what happens with mail sent there?
LdiJ
Senior Member
Ok, this is a bit confusing. If you were living in AK then you should have changed your ID to AK. However, since you are no longer living in AK it would not be appropriate to change your ID to AK now. You would need to change it to IL if that is where you are living now.
Montana could possibly go after you for state tax. Many states take the position that if you have a driver's license in that state, are registered to vote in that state, and possibly have a car registered in that state, that you are a resident of that state for tax purposes. Therefore the sooner you change that stuff to IL, the better. You will not pay IL income tax on that income because you were not a resident of IL when you earned that income. You will pay IL income tax on any income you earned between now and when you move to Hawaii.
No it's an old appartment address from when I lived there in 2017. I just had a po box for mail.
Zigner
Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Why did you not change your driver's license to your state of residency, as required by law?
LdiJ
Senior Member
I suspect that he wasn't driving in Alaska. He did say that his brother had his car in IL. That doesn't make it right that he didn't change his driver's license, but he might have mistakenly believed that he didn't have to if he wasn't going to be driving there.
Well that's the thing is that as a commercial fisherman my life is super transient and I haven't changed my residency from Montana. I spent 8.5 months in AK then flew to be with my family in IL for now.
Awesome thanks this is super helpful!
Zigner
Senior Member, Non-Attorney
That is key. Really.
Taxing Matters
Overtaxed Member
You may be able to argue that you weren't a resident of Montana during 2020. You were not present in that state all year and have not kept a residence there. If you left Montana intending that your stay in Alaska would be temporary and that you would return to Montana after then you'd be a resident of Montana notwithstanding the months you spent in Alaska and Illinois. The Montana Department of Revenue page on Montana Residency spells that out as the standard. A very recent Montana Supreme Court case explained the rules for residency as follows:
¶13 A person may be considered a “resident” for Montana individual income tax purposes in one of two ways, the first being that the person is “domiciled in the state of Montana ....” Section 15-30-2101(28), MCA. “Domiciled” is defined by administrative regulation as “having a residence in the state of Montana as stated in [§] 1-1-215, MCA.” Admin. R. M. 42.2.304(17) (2008). See also Pletcher, 280 Mont. at 422-23, 930 P.2d at 658 (We defer to “[t]he agency's interpretation *235 of a statute governing its operations ....”). A residence is “the place where a person remains when not called elsewhere for labor or other special or temporary purpose and to which the person returns in seasons of repose.” Section 1-1-215(1), MCA. A person may only have one residence. Section 1-1-215(2), MCA. “A residence cannot be lost until another is gained” and, if changed, can only be done so “by the union of act and intent.” Section 1-1-215(3), (7), MCA.
¶14 The second way a person may be individually taxed as a Montana resident is if the person “maintains a permanent place of abode within the state even though temporarily absent from the state and [ ] has not established a residence elsewhere.” Section 15-30-2101(28), MCA. “Permanent place of abode” is defined by administrative regulation as “a dwelling place habitually used by an individual as the individual's home, whether or not owned by the individual or a dwelling the individual may someday leave.” Admin. R. M. 42.15.107(1) (2008).
¶15 “Whether an individual is a Montana resident for Montana income tax purposes is determined in light of all facts and circumstances.” Admin. R. M. 42.15.109(1) (2008).
Greenwood v. Montana Dep't of Revenue, 2020 MT 149, ¶¶ 13-15, 400 Mont. 229, 234–35, 465 P.3d 205, 208.
In that case, Greenwood had moved from Texas to Montana in 1999. In 2004, he moved back to Texas. The Montana Department of Revenue examined him for the years 2008-2012 and determined him a resident of Montana and subject to tax in the state. The Supreme Court affirmed that determination. Why? The reason is that although he no longer maintained a home in Montana, he continued to renew his driver's license and his hunting and fishing licenses in that state after he supposedly moved to Texas. The hunting and fishing renewals were particularly significant because the state has more stringent residency requirements for those to prevent out of state hunters and fisherman from exploiting the bounty of the state. He also was still registered to vote in Montana and did in fact vote there in 2008. Thus, the court said that:
Greenwood held himself out as a Montana resident and enjoyed many of the benefits and privileges granted by the State of Montana during the 2008 to 2012 audit years. He now seeks to bear none of the cost. Greenwood asserts the District Court and the MTAB failed to consider his argument under § 1-1-215(1), MCA, that he intended to return to Texas to establish residency, but his argument fundamentally fails because he is asking us to reweigh the evidence presented to the MTAB contrary to § 2-4-704(2), MCA, which does not allow for us to substitute our judgment for that of the agency as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact. The MTAB considered all of Greenwood's arguments and evidence and found his actions established a pattern of claiming a certain residency status only when *237 it was favorable to him. The MTAB further determined that Greenwood's acts in declaring Montana residency to obtain certain benefits controlled over his incredible assertions of Texas residency. We defer to the MTAB's findings regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence. See Benjamin v. Anderson, 2005 MT 123, ¶ 37, 327 Mont. 173, 112 P.3d 1039 (“The findings of the [agency], especially as to witness credibility, are ... entitled to great deference.”).
CONCLUSION
7¶20 When assessing a person's acts and declarations regarding residency, “ ‘[m]ore weight or importance will be given to a person's acts than to his declarations, and when they are inconsistent, the acts will control. It is said in this connection that actions speak louder than words, but that the words are to be heard for what they are worth.’ ” Veseth v. Veseth, 147 Mont. 169, 173, 410 P.2d 930, 932 (1966) (quoting 28 C.J.S. Domicile § 18, p. 45). Greenwood's actions during the years at issue speak volumes. The District Court did not err when it affirmed the MTAB's administrative decision that Greenwood did not sever his Montana residency for income tax purposes from 2008 to 2012. Affirmed.
Id at 235 and 209. Here, assuming you've not renewed your Montana driver's license after you left for Alaska and have not renewed any other ties to that state, you might be able to make the argument you are no longer a resident there. However, not getting an Alaska license will hurt you if you drove on that license in Alaska, since once you become a resident in that state you must have an Alaska license to drive there. Retaining your Montana driver's license while driving in Alaska would be consistent with the idea that you considered yourself resident in Montana, which could kill your claim of no longer being resident in Montana. If you had no need to drive in Alaska, which is not uncommon in some communities up there, that would provide an explanation for why you didn't get the driver's license there. It would help you now that you are in Illinois to get a license there if you are no longer resident in Montana. You need to assert that your residence is another state, after all, to complete the loss of residence in Montana. Doing things like getting a Illinois driver's license, registering to vote there, etc, would help establish you are now a resident of that state. Of course, doing that will mean that Illinois will treat you as a part year resident for 2020. Or if you plan to return to Alaska and make that your permanent home, get your Alaska driver's license, register to vote there, etc. While I think there is a chance for this argument to win on the issue of Montana residency, that driver's license issue may be a hurdle for you here.
That statement alone would be enough to make you a resident of the state. Severing your residency, as the state statute says, is a union of action and intent. You must both intend to leave the state and not return and take actions consistent with that intent. If you consider yourself still a resident of the state, you don't have the necessary intent to change your residency.
Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!
Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">