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Determining Residency for Income Tax Purposes for Military Personnel

Domicile
To determine your residency, you must first know your domicile. Your domicile is the place you consider your permanent home. It’s where you intend to return to and live after you are discharged or when you retire from the military. You have only one domicile, although you may have more than one place to live. Your domicile does not change until you move to a new location with the intent to establish your permanent home there and to abandon your old domicile.

Nonresident
For tax purposes, you are a nonresident of New Jersey if you temporarily work here with no intention of making it your home. So, if your home of record (domicile) was another state when you joined the military, you remain a resident of that state, even if you are stationed in New Jersey.

Resident

If your home of record (domicile) was New Jersey when you joined the military, you remain a resident for Income Tax purposes, unless you qualify for nonresident status. Your domicile does not change when you are temporarily assigned to duty in another state or country.

Three Conditions for Nonresident Status. Military personnel who are domiciled in New Jersey, but who meet all three of the following conditions for the entire year, are considered nonresidents for Income Tax purposes:

1. You did not maintain a permanent home in New Jersey; and
2. You did maintain a permanent home outside New Jersey; and
3. You did not spend more than 30 days in New Jersey during the tax year.

If you are stationed outside New Jersey and you are living aboard ship, in barracks, billets, or bachelor officer quarters, you remain a New Jersey resident for Income Tax purposes. Additionally, if you accept any housing or quarters allowance, you are not considered to be maintaining a permanent home outside New Jersey.

However, if you pay for and maintain (out-of-pocket payments, forfeiture of quarters allowance, etc.) an apartment or a home outside New Jersey you are considered to be maintaining a permanent home outside New Jersey.

For more information on military personnel, see Tax Topic Bulletin GIT-7, Military Personnel