Minn. R. agency 181, ch. 8001, pt. 8001.0300
The term "resident" means:
A person may be a resident of Minnesota for income tax purposes, and taxable as a resident, even though the person is not deemed a resident for other purposes.
The term "domicile" means the bodily presence of an individual person in a place coupled with an intent to make such a place one's home. The domicile of any person is that place in which that person's habitation is fixed, without any present intentions of removal therefrom, and to which, whenever absent, that person intends to return.
A person who leaves home to go into another jurisdiction for temporary purposes only is not considered to have lost that person's domicile. But if a person moves to another jurisdiction with the intention of remaining there permanently or for an indefinite time as a home, that person has lost that person's domicile in this state. The presumption is that a person who leaves this state to accept a job assignment in a foreign nation has not lost that person's domicile in this state.
Except for a person covered by the provisions of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, United States Code, title 50 appendix, section 574, the presumption is that the place where a person's family is domiciled is that person's domicile. The domicile of a spouse is the same as the other spouse unless there is affirmative evidence to the contrary or unless the spouses are legally separated or the marriage has been dissolved. When a person has made a home at any place with the intention of remaining there and the person's family neither lives there nor intends to do so, then that person has established a domicile separate from that person's family.
The domicile of a single person is that person's usual home. In a case of a minor child who is not emancipated, the domicile of the child's parents is the domicile of the child. The domicile of the parent who has legal custody of the child is the domicile of the child. A person who is a permanent resident alien in the United States may have a domicile in this state. The domicile of a member of the armed forces will be governed by the facts just prior to becoming a member of the armed forces unless the person takes the necessary steps to establish a new domicile.
The mere intention to acquire a new domicile, without the fact of physical removal, does not change the status of the taxpayer, nor does the fact of physical removal, without the intention to remain, change the person's status. The presumption is that one's domicile is the place where one lives. An individual can have only one domicile at any particular time. A domicile once shown to exist is presumed to continue until the contrary is shown. An absence of intention to abandon a domicile is equivalent to an intention to retain the existing one. No positive rule can be adopted with respect to the evidence necessary to prove an intention to change a domicile but such intention may be proved by acts and declarations, and of the two forms of evidence, acts must be given more weight than declarations. A person who is temporarily employed within this state does not acquire a domicile in this state if during that period the person is domiciled outside of this state.
The following items listed will be considered in determining whether or not a person is domiciled in this state:
Any one of the items listed above will not, by itself, determine domicile.
In counting the number of days spent within and without Minnesota, a person shall be treated as present in Minnesota on any day if the person is physically present in Minnesota at any time during that day. However, a person in transit between two points outside Minnesota who is physically present in Minnesota less than 24 hours, will not be treated as present in Minnesota on any day during transit.
Items A and B are examples of the application of this subpart:
Any person domiciled outside Minnesota who maintains a place of abode within Minnesota and claims to be a nonresident of the state must have available for examination adequate records to substantiate that more than one-half of the tax year was spent outside Minnesota.
Adequate records means any contemporaneously kept records that establish the places of physical presence of the person on particular dates. Adequate records include, but are not limited to, calendars, diaries, canceled checks, credit card receipts, and airline tickets.
An abode is a dwelling place permanently maintained by a person, whether or not owned and whether or not occupied by the person. It does not need to be permanent in the sense that the person does not intend to abandon it at some future time. However, a cabin or cottage not suitable for year round use and used only for vacations is not an abode. Additionally, quarters which contain sleeping arrangements but do not contain facilities for cooking or bathing will not generally be considered an abode.
A person who moves a domicile outside Minnesota is not considered to be maintaining an abode in Minnesota even though the person continues to own or rent a dwelling in Minnesota if the person has moved personal furnishings and belongings from the dwelling and is making a good faith effort to sell, lease, or sublease the dwelling.
The physical presence test does not apply to persons who are domiciled in Minnesota throughout the tax year. There is no presumption that a person domiciled in Minnesota has lost that domicile if the person is absent from Minnesota over one-half of the tax year.
Persons domiciled in Minnesota who move their domiciles outside Minnesota during the tax year and persons domiciled outside Minnesota who move their domiciles to Minnesota during the tax year are part year residents of Minnesota. The physical presence test does not apply to such persons unless a Minnesota abode is maintained during the period domiciled outside of Minnesota.
A person domiciled in Minnesota is deemed a nonresident for the period of time that the person is a qualified individual under the Internal Revenue Code, section 911. For a person who has homesteaded the person's principal residence in Minnesota prior to leaving the country, this subpart applies only if the person notifies the county within three months of moving out of the country that homestead status should be revoked and does not file a Minnesota homestead application for any property in which the person has an interest during the period the person is a qualified individual.
Items A to E contain examples of the application of this part:
T was a part year resident of Minnesota in 1987. Although T was physically present in Minnesota over 183 days, the physical presence test does not apply because T did not maintain an abode in Minnesota during the part of the year T was not domiciled in Minnesota.
T was a full year resident of Minnesota in 1987. T was physically present in Minnesota over one-half of the year and maintained an abode in Minnesota.
T was a part year resident of Minnesota in 1987, assuming T removed personal belongings and furnishings from the Minnesota abode when T changed domicile. Although T was physically present over one-half of the year and continued to own a dwelling in Minnesota, T will not be considered to have maintained an abode in Minnesota because T moved belongings from the dwelling and made a good faith effort to sell the dwelling.
T was not a full year resident of Minnesota under the physical presence test. Although T maintained a Minnesota abode, T was not physically present in Minnesota over one-half of the year.
However, the department could review the steps T took to change domicile and could consider T a full year resident if it were determined T remained domiciled in Minnesota.
T was a part year resident of Minnesota in 1987. Although T was physically present in Minnesota over one-half of the year, T did not have a Minnesota abode during the part of the year T was domiciled outside the state. Therefore, the physical presence test does not apply.
Minn. R. agency 181, ch. 8001, pt. 8001.0300
Statutory Authority: MS s 270.06; 270C.06; 290.52