New York Tax Residence: the rule, how days are counted, examples

Summary

You are a New York State resident for income tax, even if your real home is in another state or country, when you keep a permanent place of abode in New York for substantially all of the year and spend more than 183 days of the calendar year in the state. Day 184 is the day that changes your status. Any part of a day counts as a day. A resident pays New York tax on income from everywhere, not only on New York income. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance decides, and it can ask you to prove where you were on each day.

Limit: More than 183 days in New York State (the 184th day crosses the line)
Period: The tax year, for most people 1 January to 31 December
A day counts when: You are in New York for any part of the calendar day
Second condition: A permanent place of abode in New York for substantially all of the year
Law: Tax Law section 605(b)(1)(B), regulation 20 NYCRR 105.20
Run by: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Who it applies to

People who live in New Jersey, Connecticut or Pennsylvania and keep an apartment in New York for work nights.
People who moved their home to Florida or another state but kept a house or flat in New York.
Foreign nationals who rent a year-round home in New York and are not sure how many days they will stay.
Owners of a second home upstate or on Long Island that can be used all year.
Remote workers who return to a New York home they still keep for many weeks each year.

The rule

New York has two ways to make you a resident. The first is domicile, which means the one place that is your true, permanent home. The second is the statutory residence test in Tax Law section 605(b)(1)(B). Under that test, a person who is not domiciled in New York is still a resident if they maintain a permanent place of abode in the state and spend in the aggregate more than 183 days of the taxable year in the state. "In the aggregate" means all the days are added together. They do not need to be one stay.

The regulation, 20 NYCRR 105.20, adds that the abode must be maintained for substantially all of the taxable year. It describes this as the whole year without small parts of it. The audit guidelines of the Department say that, starting with tax year 2022, auditors read this as a period of more than 10 months. Before 2022 they used more than 11 months, and one older tax bulletin still shows that number. The guidelines apply the 10-month reading to years in which you first get or give up a home. The home does not have to be the same one all year: two New York leases one after the other count together.

A permanent place of abode is a dwelling that you maintain, whether you own it or not, and that is fit for use all year. A home owned or leased by your spouse usually counts. A camp or cottage that is fit only for holidays does not count. A building without the things a home normally has, such as cooking and bathing facilities, usually does not count either. The Department says you do not need to sleep at the abode for a day to count. A day anywhere in the state counts.

Both parts must be true in the same year. If they are, you are taxed as a resident for the whole year, not only from the day you crossed the line. The Department looks at the whole situation, and the regulation says that a person with a New York abode who claims to be a nonresident must keep records that show they did not spend more than 183 days in the state.

Why it exists

New York taxes residents on all their income and nonresidents only on income from New York sources. Without this test, a person could live in the state for most of the year, use its services, and still claim a home somewhere else because domicile depends on intention and is hard to prove. The test replaces the question of intention with two things that can be checked: a home that is available all year, and a count of days.

Counting the days

You count the calendar days of the tax year on which you were inside New York State for any part of the day. The period is 1 January to 31 December for most people.

List every home in New York State that you own, rent or can use when you want, and the dates you had it. Check whether together they cover more than 10 months of the year.
Go through the year day by day and mark each calendar day on which you were in New York at any time, even for one hour.
Count the arrival day and the departure day of each trip as full days.
Take out days when you were in the state only to board a plane, ship, train or bus to a place outside New York, or only passed through on the way to a place outside New York.
Take out days when you were confined to a hospital or other medical institution in New York as an in-patient.
Add up the days. 183 or fewer keeps you under the line. 184 or more, with the abode, makes you a resident for the year.

How Countr counts it. Countr counts every calendar day on which your phone was in New York State at any time, from 1 January to 31 December, against a limit of 183 days, and it warns you as you come close. This is simpler than the law in three ways. Countr cannot see whether you keep a permanent place of abode, so you should add this tracker only if you do. Countr also counts days when you only passed through the state and days in hospital, because it cannot tell them apart. So its number can be a little higher than the legal count. It is never lower, which means the warning comes early and not late.

Track New York Tax Residence on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

Four office days a week from Connecticut

Priya's home is in Stamford, Connecticut. She rents a studio in Manhattan for the whole of 2026 and works in her New York office 4 days a week for 46 weeks. That is 184 New York days. She has the abode and more than 183 days, so New York treats her as a resident for all of 2026 and taxes her income from every source. If she had worked from home on one of those days, the count would be 183 and she would stay a nonresident.

A dinner that adds a day

Marc is domiciled in New Jersey and owns a flat in Brooklyn that he keeps all year. By 20 December 2026 he has 183 New York days. On 27 December he drives in for dinner and leaves three hours later. That evening is day 184, because any part of a day counts. It makes him a resident for the whole year.

A lease that starts in March

Hana, who is domiciled in Texas, first rents an apartment in Queens on 1 March 2026 and keeps it to the end of the year. She spends 200 days in New York in 2026. Her abode covers 10 months, which is not more than 10 months, and 2026 is the year she first got the home. Under the audit guidelines she is generally not a statutory resident for 2026. In 2027, with the same lease for all 12 months, 184 days would be enough.

Exceptions

People in active service in the Armed Forces of the United States are outside this test. Section 605(b)(1)(B) says so directly.
Days when you are in New York only to board a plane, ship, train or bus to a place outside the state, or only travel through to a place outside the state, can be left out.
The audit policy of the Department is that days confined to a medical institution in New York do not count as days in the state.
A dwelling kept by a full-time undergraduate student and lived in while attending college is not a permanent place of abode for that student.
A home you have rented out to a tenant, so that you cannot use it, is not your permanent place of abode for that period.
If you are domiciled in New York, this test is not the one that matters. Domicile already makes you a resident, unless you meet the separate 30-day or 548-day rules.

Common misconceptions

“I am only a resident if I sleep in New York more than 183 nights.”: Nights are not the test. Any part of a calendar day in the state is a full day, so a morning meeting followed by a train home counts the same as an overnight stay.
“Only days at my New York apartment count.”: Days anywhere in New York State count. The Department says you do not need to be at the abode for the day to count.
“My driving licence and voter registration are in Florida, so New York cannot tax me as a resident.”: Those things help show where your domicile is. The statutory test does not look at domicile. An abode in New York plus 184 days is enough, even with a clear home in another state.
“If I cross the line in October, I am a resident from October.”: A statutory resident is taxed as a resident for the entire tax year, including the months before day 184.

Questions and answers

Is it 183 days or 184 days in New York?

The law says more than 183 days, so the 184th day is the one that makes you a resident. The Department writes the same rule as 184 days or more. With 183 days or fewer you do not meet the day part of the test.

Does the day I arrive in New York count?

Yes. Any part of a calendar day in the state counts as a day, so both the arrival day and the departure day count. A trip from Monday evening to Wednesday morning is three days.

Do airport connection days count?

Presence only to board a plane, ship, train or bus to a place outside New York, or only to travel through the state, can be disregarded. If you also do something else that day, such as a meeting or a meal with friends in the city, the day counts.

What records should I keep?

Keep records that show where you were on each day: travel tickets, toll and transit records, card receipts, phone location history and a diary. The regulation puts the duty on a person with a New York abode to show they did not spend more than 183 days in the state.

Can I be a resident of New York and another state in the same year?

Yes. You can be domiciled in one state and a statutory resident of New York. Both states may then tax all your income, and credits for tax paid to the other state may cover only part of it.

Does this test also decide New York City tax?

No. The city has its own test with the same structure, counted on days in the five boroughs and an abode in the city. See the New York City Tax Residence tracker for that count.

Sources

Other rules for United States

Arizona Tax Residence 273 days in each calendar year
California Tax — Visitors 181 days in each calendar year
California Tax Residence 273 days in each calendar year
Connecticut Tax — 30 Days or Fewer 30 days in each calendar year
Connecticut Tax Residence 183 days in each calendar year
Delaware Tax Residence 183 days in each calendar year
Hawaii Tax Residence 200 days in each calendar year
Idaho Tax Residence 270 days in each calendar year

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.