Hello,
Bit of a long post, sorry about that. I live a nomad sort of mariner lifestyle, often spending most of my year when not on ships traveling overseas through various foreign countries, only returning to the US to hop back on board ships and leave again to make more money. However from 2020 until late 2023 I started shipping out of an income tax state because one of our union halls there had a labor shortage due to the pandemic.
While shipping was indeed good over there, the caveat was was that due to the lockdowns and travel bans not allowing me to travel overseas and keeping me stuck in the income tax state in-between shipping jobs, I became a resident of the income tax state and got a Drivers License there- before then I was a resident of tax free Florida from a previous address I had while I was still land based (but at that time I no longer had a place in Florida). While in the income tax state in-between ships, I was staying at a Seamen’s Home, a temporary residency for sailors that, through their own lease, states that the establishment is for mariners looking to ship out for work purposes only and is only limited to 90 day stays at a time maximum, and is not a permanent residency or residential address. Despite this, due to the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the pandemic with the lockdowns and travel bans, I became a resident of that state and got a DL there, which in hindsight was probably pretty stupid and overkill- however this was never intended to be permanent, and was only due to the exceptional, unusual and chaotic nature of the pandemic that had me stuck in the state at the Seamen’s Home for longer than I would have liked to have been. It should also be said, the ships themselves were international/interstate, did not travel anywhere intrastate, and only docked in the state for two days once every month or so before leaving the state destined for somewhere else outside of the state. With that being said, for three years during the height of the pandemic from 2020 until just a few months ago in October 2023 I had this income tax state’s Driver’s License and paid state taxes to that state due to being stuck there in-between ships. However, now that the pandemic seems largely behind us and travel restrictions and travel bans have been lifted, I have resumed my overseas travel rootless nomadic lifestyle again. In October of 2023, I officially looked to break ties with the income tax state and traveled to South Dakota- a tax free state which allows rootless nomadic travelers to become residents- and then registered with a South Dakota mail forwarding service, obtained a PMB address, and used that PMB address to obtain a South Dakota Driver’s License, which I then used to register to vote in South Dakota, and then I was off to the Philippines for the rest of 2023. I officially filed my 2023 taxes as a part year resident of the aforementioned income tax state.
My question then I guess is, is this enough to officially break ties with the income tax state for state tax purposes? Please keep in mind, I never owned any property in that state, never signed a lease for an apartment or house in that state, never bought or owned a car in that state, never registered to vote in that state, never opened up a local bank account there, etc, I don’t even think I stayed in the state longer than 186 days per year to qualify as a tax resident- I just merely stayed at the temporary and transient Seamen’s Home there for an unusual and exceptional extended period of time in-between ships due to the chaotic nature of the pandemic, I only had a Drivers License from the state, and I don’t, and never have, intended to live there permanently in the future. I don’t really live or own any assets anywhere and never really have besides a current storage unit in Florida, and South Dakota is the only state that really caters to those with my sort of rootless travel lifestyle. My specialized mariner tax accountant says I should be OK, he also even went as far to say that with me ending the tax year of 2023 with a tax free state residency voids me having to pay any state taxes at all to the income tax state for 2023, even when I held the Driver’s License from therebefore October 2023, as I will be filed as a transient worker due to the mariner Amtrak law- any thoughts on that one? Too aggressive or should be OK? That being said, what do you all think about this situation? Despite me never having any property or residential address in the income tax state while I was a (temporary) resident there during the pandemic, is having a South Dakota PMB address and voting registration (and health insurance in Washington state) enough to officially cut loose from that state? This year, for what it is worth, I am shipping out of a different state and will probably not even step foot in the aforementioned income tax state this year at all, and then once that is done, I’m off to travel overseas again for the rest of the year.
Thanks and sorry for the long post. Appreciate any help I can get.
