Residency challenges—has any state ever gone after you?

Yes, they challenged me when I moved away for a year. I believe I was on their radar because I had filed in Louisiana for years and then didn’t file one year. When I moved away I knew I would be back the next year so I didn’t change my vehicle registration or drivers license. The state saw that I still had both in Louisiana but didn’t pay taxes.

They ask for proof of residency in my new state, including vehicle registration and drivers license. Of course I couldn’t provide that for the new state so I provided them utility bills, paychecks, etc. that showed my new address but they insisted vehicle registration and drivers license determined residency. They said I owed income taxes for that year, thankfully the state I moved to didn’t have income taxes so I just paid Louisiana to get them off my back.

Yes. I had to back pay LA taxes after I moved. I was young and didn’t do things properly, so was still a legal resident of LA even though I was living in Houston.

Sucked but that’s life.

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They ask for proof of residency in my new state, including vehicle registration and drivers license. Of course I couldn’t provide that for the new state so I provided them utility bills, paychecks, etc. that showed my new address but they insisted vehicle registration and drivers license determined residency. They said I owed income taxes for that year, thankfully the state I moved to didn’t have income taxes so I just paid Louisiana to get them off my back.

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This. At the time I believed I was going to move back to Louisiana so I didn’t change anything over. And like you, they didn’t take my bills as residency proof in a new state.

NY goes after my clients all the time. Tax man will show up at their NY apartments checking expiration dates on food, looking at your clothes in closets, checking cell phone records, etc. it’s really aggressive up here.