West Virginia Tax Residence

Summary

West Virginia treats you as a resident for income tax if your permanent home in law is in another state, but you maintain a permanent place of abode in West Virginia and spend more than 183 days of the tax year in the state. Both conditions are needed. Presence for any part of a calendar day counts as a day, except when you are only passing through or only boarding a plane, train or bus to leave. A resident is taxed on income from all sources. The West Virginia Tax Division applies the rule.

Limit

183 days. Day 184 is the first day over the limit

Period

The tax year, for most people 1 January to 31 December

A day counts when

You are in the state for any part of the calendar day

Days that do not count

Passing through, or only boarding transport to leave

Law

W. Va. Code 11-21-7(a), legislative rule 110 CSR 21, section 7

Run by

West Virginia Tax Division

Who it applies to

• People from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland or Virginia who keep a house or flat in West Virginia.
• Energy, engineering and medical workers posted to West Virginia with no end date.
• Owners of a second home in the mountains that can be lived in all year.
• People who often drive across West Virginia and wonder whether those days count.

The rule

West Virginia Code section 11-21-7(a) defines a resident individual in two ways. The first is a person domiciled in the state. Domicile is the place you intend as your permanent home, the place you intend to return to when you are away. The second is a person who is not domiciled in West Virginia but maintains a permanent place of abode in the state and spends in the aggregate more than 183 days of the taxable year there.

The legislative rule, 110 CSR 21, section 7, fills in the details. A permanent place of abode is a dwelling place permanently maintained by you, whether or not you own it, and it generally includes a dwelling owned or leased by your spouse. A camp or cottage used only for holidays is not one. A dwelling that you keep only during a temporary stay for a particular purpose is not permanent either.

The rule gives a clear work example. If your employer sends you to a West Virginia office for a fixed and limited period and you rent a flat, that flat is not a permanent place of abode, and you are not a resident even with more than 183 days. You are taxed as a nonresident on your West Virginia income. If the posting has no end date, the flat is a permanent place of abode.

Section 7.1.4 of the rule says how to count. Presence within the state for any part of a calendar day is a day spent within the state. There are two exceptions: presence only to board a plane, train or bus for travel to a place outside West Virginia, and presence while travelling through the state by motor vehicle, plane or train to a place outside it. The same section says that a person who is domiciled elsewhere, keeps a permanent place of abode in West Virginia and claims to be a nonresident must keep adequate records, and have them ready for the Tax Commissioner, to show that he or she did not spend more than 183 days in the state.

The statute also has a rule for people from West Virginia: a person domiciled in the state is not a resident for a year if he or she maintains no permanent place of abode in West Virginia, maintains one elsewhere, and spends not more than 30 days of the year in the state.

Why it exists

A state can tax residents on all their income. If domicile were the only test, a person could have a real home in West Virginia, live there for most of the year, and still pay tax only on local income by pointing to a legal home in another state. The 183-day test stops this. The exceptions for transit keep the rule fair in a state that many people cross on the way to somewhere else.

Counting the days

You count the calendar days of the tax year on which you were in West Virginia for any part of the day, and you leave out days of pure transit.

1. Take the tax year. For most people this is 1 January to 31 December.
2. Mark every calendar day on which you were in West Virginia for any part of the day.
3. Remove days when you were in the state only to board a plane, train or bus to a place outside West Virginia.
4. Remove days when you only travelled through the state by car, plane or train to a place outside it.
5. Add the remaining days and compare with 183. At 184 or more the day condition is met.
6. Check the second condition, a permanent place of abode in West Virginia, and keep records. The rule puts the duty to show the day count on you.

Examples

A posting to Morgantown with no end date

Anil is an engineer domiciled in Pennsylvania. In January 2026 his employer moves him to the Morgantown office with no end date. He rents a flat there and goes home to Pittsburgh at weekends. He is in West Virginia on 220 days in 2026. The flat is a permanent place of abode because the posting is indefinite, and he has more than 183 days. He is a West Virginia resident for 2026.

A ten-month project in Charleston

Beth is domiciled in Ohio. Her company sends her to Charleston from 1 February to 30 November 2026 for one project with a fixed end, and she rents a flat for those ten months. She is in West Virginia on 250 days. Under the legislative rule, a dwelling kept during a posting for a fixed and limited period is not a permanent place of abode. Beth is not a resident, although she has more than 183 days. She pays West Virginia tax as a nonresident on her pay for work done there.

Driving through on the motorway

Carlos lives in Ohio and owns a year-round house near Snowshoe. In 2026 he stays at the house on 170 days. He also drives across West Virginia 20 times on the way from Ohio to North Carolina and back, without stopping overnight. Those 20 days are travel through the state to a place outside it and do not count. His legal total is 170 days, under the limit. Countr shows 190, because it cannot recognise transit.

Exceptions

• The 183-day test does not apply to a member of the Armed Forces of the United States. The legislative rule excludes them by name.
• Days when you are in West Virginia only to board a plane, train or bus for a place outside the state do not count.
• Days when you only travel through West Virginia by motor vehicle, plane or train to a place outside the state do not count.
• A camp or cottage used only for holidays is not a permanent place of abode.
• A dwelling kept during a work posting for a fixed and limited period is not a permanent place of abode, so the rule is not met even above 183 days.
• A person domiciled in West Virginia with no permanent place of abode there, one elsewhere, and not more than 30 days in the state is treated as a nonresident for that year.

Common misconceptions

“Every day I set foot in West Virginia counts.”

Almost every day does, because any part of a day counts. But the rule leaves out days when you only pass through the state or only board transport to a place outside it.

“More than 183 days always makes me a resident.”

You also need a permanent place of abode in the state. A flat rented for a posting with a fixed, limited length is not one.

“The Tax Division must prove my days.”

The rule says a person who keeps a permanent place of abode in West Virginia and claims to be a nonresident must keep adequate records to show that he or she did not pass 183 days.

“My spouse owns the West Virginia house, so I have no abode there.”

Under the rule, a permanent place of abode generally includes a dwelling place owned or leased by your husband or wife.

Questions and answers

Does a flight out of a West Virginia airport count as a day?

Not if you were in the state only to board the plane for a place outside West Virginia. The legislative rule names this as an exception. If you also spent other time in the state that day, the day counts.

Does a weekend at my hunting cabin count?

The days count as days in West Virginia. But a camp or cottage used only for holidays is not a permanent place of abode, so if that cabin is your only dwelling in the state, the second condition is not met.

What happens if I go over 183 days in West Virginia?

If you also maintain a permanent place of abode there, you are a resident for that tax year and West Virginia taxes your income from all sources. A credit for tax paid to another state may reduce double tax.

I was sent to West Virginia for work. Does my rented flat count?

It depends on the posting. For a fixed and limited period, the rule says the flat is not a permanent place of abode. For a posting with no end date, it is.

What records should I keep for West Virginia?

Keep records that show where you were on each day: travel tickets, toll and fuel receipts, card statements and work calendars. The rule asks for adequate records that are available for the Tax Commissioner to examine.

Does the 183-day count carry over from one year to the next?

No. The test covers one taxable year. The count starts again from zero on the first day of the next tax year.

Sources

• West Virginia Code, section 11-21-7, Resident and nonresident defined
• West Virginia Code of State Rules, 110 CSR 21, section 7 (text of the legislative rule)

Read more: The 183-day rule: what it means and what it does not.

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.