Requirements to become a Texas Resident? (San Antonio, Howe: college, living, legal)

[mitsos93]

My mother was born in texas and lived there till she became 18th.My father is from greece and i was born and went to school in greece. So am i a texas resident or not???? Thanks!!!!!

[Marianne313]

How long can a child visit Texas (live there with one parent) before they're considered a resident?

the situation is: my cousin has a child (2yrs old) who she let go visit his father (in TX), The father and his parents live in Texas the child has been there 4 months now and I'm wondering if that family is trying to establish "residency" for the child so they can then get the father full custody of his child.

The mother of the child lives in Maryland, the child was born in Maryland and has lived in Maryland except for the past 4 months when he's been visiting the father and his parents in Texas.

[CT2TXASAP]

I am a full time resident of CT but I would like claim TX residency. I went down to DFW once and fell in love with the state instantly. Very laid back without the "holier than thous" that we have here in CT. I am looking to move there within a year or so and I have the opportunity to purchase land there now. Even if I pay property taxes on the land ,can I claim residency now? Thanks for all answers in advance.

[TejasCo]

ANY GOVERNMENT jurisdiction wants as much of your MONEY as can be extracted during your stay - be it 1 day or 100 years - and it also wants to CONTROL you. That is the natural, instinctive drive of ANY governmental institution - be it municpal, state, federal , or simply a home owner's association.

As U.S. citizens we are each a citizen of ONLY ONE of the several united states, or a U.S. territory at any given time. Except for active duty members of the U.S. armed forces every adult citizen has the FREEDOM to choose the jurisdiction of their legal residency, or home of record. That is a peculiar situation where individual choice doesn't apply.

Prior to the 20th Century this wasn't a complicated issue, if a person had any kind of roots in society ( a homestead, job, voted, and served on juries). It is not quite so simple these days.

There is a RIGHT to TRAVEL, by the way, and if your money holds out you can spend the remainder of your life traveling away from your "home base" if you so choose. If a person chooses to drive, or fly an airplane while engaged in their travels they are required under the law to possess a license that requires the designation of a legal ADDRESS of residency, and one is required to comply with the respective regulations pertaining to such residency.

The point is - don't be squeezed , or hammered into some bureaucratic crack by state regulations designed to CONTROL every aspect of your life and to milk your finances. Don't get "hitched" to some jurisdiction just because you choose to spend 30 days, nights, weeks, months, or years within the confines of its borders. Barring occupational, financial ,or other legal obligations, it is your choice as to WHEN to change your legal residency. Many people legally maintain reidency in one jurisdiction, while spending indefinite time living, working, visiting in another.

It is important however that you actually have ONE jurisdiction of legal residency- KNOW IT, LIVE IT and MAINTAIN IT.

[ExpatinUK]

I have read the above but my situation seems more complicated. I am a US citizen currently employed by a US company (VA based) working and residing in England since 99. Back up a bit. I was in the military 1980 -2002 and carried Kanssas as my home of record. In 94 I took residency in Nevada since I bought a house there, kept residency there till 2010 when my drivers license expired and no longer had a link. About 2004 my parents moved to Texas, meaning absolutely no ties to Kansas now. In 2010 I visited my parents and got a Texas driving license and think I did the voting form. Do I qualify for residency since I am an expat in a foreign country? Good enough for Federal income tax? Otherwise from what I understand I am not a resident of any state.

[Aquitaine]

You may need to consult a tax attorney for your tax situation. Residency is computed differently by different government agencies. For the purposes of tax returns, the Federal government doesn't care which state you were in (since your tax rate is the same) but they absolutely care what country you were in and whether you're a US citizen (which it sounds like you still are). Most tax preparers are familiar with straightforward international tax situations like 'I am a Texas resident but I work year-round in England' or something to that effect and you should not have to file a state tax return assuming you had no state income -- that is, if you rent out your house in Nevada, you will probably have to file a Nevada return, and so on.

Most states have 'residency' requirements to do things like get a driver's license or register to vote that require physical habitation for some length of time or at least proof that you have a residence there (a deed or a lease). This does not necessarily have anything to do with the requirement to file a state tax return. In 2010, my wife worked in Connecticut for part of the year while we lived in Brooklyn, and then we moved to Pennsylvania for her graduate school. We went from being NY residents to PA residents and had to file three state tax returns: A part-year NY resident return, a part-year PA resident return, and a nonresident CT return. Most tax software (like Turbotax) makes this very easy to do because you allocate the portions of your income to each state based on where and when you made it and it does the rest.

Provided you are no longer claimed as a dependent on anyone else's return, where your parents live has no bearing on your tax situation or your residency. You will see people try to cheat this (such as in Delaware, where everybody suddenly lives with their parents when the time comes to buy big-ticket items in a no-sales-tax state) but that is increasingly hard to do as states have beefed up their verification process.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by ExpatinUK

I am a US citizen currently employed by a US company (VA based) working and residing in England since 99. Back up a bit. ... In 2010 I visited my parents and got a Texas driving license and think I did the voting form. Do I qualify for residency since I am an expat in a foreign country?

"Qualify" in what sense? You are currently a resident of Texas, domiciled in England. As previous posters have indicated, your status all depends on the context of your question.

If you have a valid address you can designate as your legal address (like your parent's address), yes, you can use that to get a driver's license and register to vote. And yes, you do have to pay Federal income tax and file tax returns no matter where in the world you are domiciled.

But if you want to know if that qualifies you for in-state tuition at a Texas University, no it would not, because you must not only be a resident, but also have been domiciled in Texas for at least the previous 12 months.

[Hel]

How long would my husband and I need to be in state to be considered Texas residents for tax purposes before leaving the country for work? Just long enough to change driver's licenses & register to vote?
The background - My husband has applied for a civilian attorney position with the Navy. If he gets it, he and I would be living in Japan full time for 3-5 years. Our current residence is Virginia. If he gets the job, we'd be selling our car. We currently rent an apartment, which we'd of course be ending the lease on.
His family lives in Texas, so we are planning to switch our residency to Texas, using his mom's address. We wouldn't have a car registered in the US at all, tho we'd switch our driver's licenses to Texas. Our banking is with a credit union that has branches in Texas. Would this qualify us as Texas residents for federal tax purposes?

[*DLC*]

Originally Posted by TGM

I don't want to disagree with anyone, but I have to point out that Texas only gives you 30 days to obtain your Texas drivers license & vehicle registration.

Trust me, I'm a cop.
TGM

i have a question, thats not directly related to this post, but since you say your a cop, i made a profile especially to ask you... if you live in texas for 11 months, but you never filed taxes there, and never changed your mailing address to forward all mail from previous address... does that make you a resident?

[debzkidz]

Originally Posted by *DLC*

i have a question, thats not directly related to this post, but since you say your a cop, i made a profile especially to ask you... if you live in texas for 11 months, but you never filed taxes there, and never changed your mailing address to forward all mail from previous address... does that make you a resident?

I know it's not me you're asking, however since this is an old thread, and the person you were asking may not even be around, I'll tell you what I know.

I have a son that attended college in Texas. He had a house he rented there on a 12 month lease each year and stayed there pretty much year round, with the exceptions of coming home for about a month at Christmas each year. His car was never registered in Texas, his mail was never forwarded from home, and he maintained an out of state drivers license the entire four years he was in college. He was employed in Texas, although it was only a part time job. While he was there, he got a couple of tickets and was involved in a traffic accident, and according to him was stopped several other times, but not ticketed for anything. There was never any problem with him not having his car registered there nor having an out of state license, even though, when he gave his address to each of the officers he was dealing with, he gave his local Texas address. He was never considered a resident, and was never able to obtain in state tuition either.