Moving to Florida for Taxes: 6 Questions to Ask First

Moving to Florida for Taxes: 6 Questions to Ask First

Florida has no state personal income tax. That one fact moves a lot of people every year, and it is real: the state constitution prohibits a personal income tax. But moving to Florida for taxes only works if the state you are leaving agrees that you left. Plenty of people buy the condo, change the license plate and still get a residency audit letter from their old state two years later.

The six questions below are the ones to settle with an accountant before the movers come, in roughly the order they matter. The numbering is a sequence, not a ranking.

Two firms in the Sam's List partner program list a Florida base: Iota Finance, whose profile lists Florida at the state level without a city, and Lemoti, whose profile lists Miami. That is the whole partner roster, and Iota Finance is written up below. Every firm named is a vetted Sam's List member. The firm written up below is a paying member of our featured program, and payment does not buy the language we use or its reviews. You can read how this list was built at the end of the post.

1. Moving to Florida for Taxes: What Does Florida Tax, and What Does It Not?

The short answer: Florida does not tax individuals' wages, investment income or capital gains at the state level, and it has no state estate tax. It does have other taxes, and they show up in the budget.

Florida has a state sales tax, plus local surtaxes in most counties. It has property taxes, set locally, which can be significant on a high-value home. And it has a corporate income tax on C corporations doing business in the state. Pass-through businesses such as S corporations and most LLCs generally do not pay Florida income tax at the entity level, because the income flows to owners who are not taxed on it by the state.

So the savings depend on where your income comes from. A high earner whose income is mostly wages and investment gains may save a lot. Someone whose main asset is a large home may see the property tax bill eat into it.

The limitation: federal income tax does not change when you move. The savings are only the state tax you no longer owe, and only if the old state stops taxing you.

2. Have I Actually Changed My Domicile? The Florida Declaration of Domicile

Domicile is your one true home, the place you intend to return to. It is not where you own property or where you spend the winter, and you can only have one. Moving to Florida for taxes means moving your domicile, and that is proved by actions, not by one document.

The Florida declaration of domicile is a sworn statement, filed with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where you live, that you are a Florida resident and intend to stay. It is useful evidence. It is not enough on its own.

The rest of the evidence comes from how you live: a Florida driver license, which new residents are generally expected to get within 30 days of establishing residency, voter registration in Florida, cars registered there, doctors, a place of worship, a safe deposit box, and where your family and the things you care about actually are. If you own and live in a home in Florida as of January 1, you can apply for the homestead exemption, generally by March 1, which lowers the taxable value of the home and adds evidence of residency.

The limitation: every item on that list can be undone by keeping your old life intact. If your old house, your club memberships and your kids' school stay in the old state, the paperwork in Florida will not carry much weight.

3. Will My Old State Audit the Move? Preparing for a State Residency Audit

High-tax states know the pattern and audit it. A state residency audit typically asks two questions. First, did you really change your domicile? Second, even if you did, were you still a statutory resident because you kept a home there and spent more than a set number of days in the state, often 183?

Some states put the burden on you to prove you left, and they can ask for a lot: phone records, credit card statements, travel records, calendars and where your pets lived. A day-count log kept as you go is far more convincing than one rebuilt from memory.

Ask your accountant what the old state's residency tests are, whether keeping your old home triggers the statutory test, and what records to start keeping now.

The limitation: residency audits often come years after the move, when records are harder to find. Keep them from the first day, and keep them for longer than you think you need to.

4. After Moving to Florida for Taxes, What Income Can My Old State Still Tax?

Changing your domicile stops your old state from taxing all of your income. It does not stop it from taxing income that comes from there.

Common examples: wages for work you physically do in the old state, rent from property you still own there, and business income from activity there. A few states can treat days you work from home in Florida as days worked in the old state, under a so-called convenience rule, if your employer's office is there. Equity compensation is a frequent surprise: some states allocate income from stock options or restricted stock that vests after you leave, based on where you worked during the vesting period.

There is good news on retirement income. Federal law generally prevents a state from taxing qualified pension and retirement plan distributions paid to someone who is no longer a resident.

The limitation: in the year you move, you usually file a part-year return in the old state, and the split between resident and nonresident periods has rules of its own. Ask for that return to be planned, not just prepared.

5. How Should My Business Be Set Up After the Move?

If you own a business, the move raises its own questions. Where is the business registered, and does it still need to be? Where does the work actually happen? If you leave employees, an office or customers in the old state, the business may keep owing tax there even though you do not.

Entity type matters too. Income from an S corporation or most LLCs flows to you and is not taxed by Florida. A C corporation doing business in Florida generally files and pays Florida corporate income tax. Ask whether your current structure still makes sense, and whether registering the business in Florida is needed.

The limitation: moving a company's home state can have legal, payroll and contract consequences that are not tax questions. Bring a lawyer in on anything beyond a simple registration change.

6. Should I Time the Move Around a Big Income Event?

If you are about to sell a business, exercise options or realize a large gain, the timing of your move relative to that event matters a great deal. Income received after you have clearly become a Florida domiciliary is generally outside the old state's reach, unless it is sourced there.

Old states know this too. A move that happens just before a large sale invites scrutiny, and if your life has not really moved, the old state may argue you were still domiciled there on the date of the sale.

Iota Finance fits this kind of planning conversation. It is based in Florida, founded in 2022, with about seven employees, serving clients nationwide. Igor Tutelman, CPA, is the Managing Partner. Its live profile lists Equity Compensation, Cryptocurrency Investors and Digital Nomads as specialties, and individual tax preparation, business tax preparation, entity formation and advisory services among its services.

Iota Finance has 14 verified client reviews on Sam's List as of 2026-10-02. Each review is submitted by an individual who identifies as a client of the firm and rates it on communication, subject-matter knowledge, and overall satisfaction. Reviews reflect those individual experiences and do not represent an endorsement by Sam's List. Iota Finance is a paying member of our featured program, and payment does not buy its reviews. Ratings and rankings are not indicative of future performance or results.

The limitation, plainly: Iota Finance lists minimums of $200,000 income, $500,000 revenue or $500,000 raised, and its profile does not say how many residency moves it has handled or which states it has dealt with. Ask both, and ask whether you will need a professional in your old state for the part-year return or an audit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Florida have a state income tax?

Florida has no state personal income tax, so it does not tax individuals' wages, interest, dividends or capital gains. It does have sales tax, property tax and a corporate income tax on C corporations. Federal income tax applies the same as anywhere in the US.

What is a Florida declaration of domicile?

It is a sworn statement filed with the clerk of the circuit court in your Florida county declaring that Florida is your permanent home. It is evidence of a change of domicile, but it is not enough by itself. Your other ties, such as your license, voter registration and where you actually live, matter more.

Can my old state still tax me after I move to Florida?

Yes, in two ways. It can tax income sourced there, such as wages for work done there or rent from property there. And it can audit whether you really changed your domicile or still count as a statutory resident. Keep records of where you spend your days.

How long should I keep records after moving to Florida for taxes?

Longer than you expect. Residency audits often arrive years after the move. Keep day-count logs, travel records, lease or purchase documents, and proof of your Florida ties for at least as long as your old state could audit the returns from your move years. Ask your CPA for the period that applies.

Before you sign a lease or a contract on a Florida home, sit down with the six questions above. You can browse accountants on Sam's List and start with the firms above.

How We Picked These Florida Accountants

You should be able to check our work, so here is exactly how this list was built.

The pool. The pool is the Sam's List partner program: vetted members with a live public profile that lists a Florida base. It is not a survey of every Florida accountant, and firms based elsewhere that serve Florida clients were outside this list by design.

Who is in Florida on Sam's List. Within that pool, the Florida roster is two firms, the whole roster rather than a shortlist: Iota Finance, whose profile lists Florida at the state level without a city, and Lemoti, whose profile lists Miami. Locations were read off the live profiles at the time of writing, and rosters change.

How it is ordered, and who got written up. Iota Finance is written up because it is the Florida-based firm in our featured program. Lemoti is named and linked so the roster is complete, and it is not written up. That is a scope decision, not a judgment about quality. With one firm written up there is no ranking to explain.

What review counts mean here. We cite the verified review count and its date from the firm's profile. A count measures how many clients wrote something down, not technical quality.

What payment does and does not buy. Listing on Sam's List is free, and so is being named in this article. The firm written up here is a paying member of our featured program, which is why it gets a write-up. What payment does not buy is the language we use about a firm, its review count, or a promise that it fits you.

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About the author: Kimberly Green is the cofounder of Sam's List, where business owners and high earners find vetted CPAs, financial advisors, and fractional CFOs. She's met one-on-one with 400+ financial professionals and writes from the real data behind thousands of client-advisor matches. Ask her anything about finding an accountant - she's heard it all, including the questions people are afraid to ask.