Whether you are a resident or non-resident alien, your visa status does not determine your tax status. Your tax status is determined by tax treaties between the United States and another country. The most common types of visas are: The definition of legal residence has been established by a judicial procedure and the opinions of the Electoral Department and is as follows: Your domicile or legal residence is your actual or principal residence. You can have several residences at the same time, but only 1 home. You cannot choose to make your home one place for general residential purposes and another for tax purposes. Your legal residence is usually where you maintain your main family, social, economic, political and religious ties, and it depends on all the facts and circumstances of the case, including good faith. Uniformed military personnel and their family members cannot arbitrarily choose the State they designate as their legal place of residence without meeting the State`s residency requirements. Employers must withhold Massachusetts State tax unless an exemption applies under a tax treaty. This is reported on U.S. Form 1042-S – U.S.
Source Income of a Foreign Person Subject to Withholding. Applicants may be convicted of a third-degree felony and fined up to $5,000 and/or imprisoned for up to 5 years if the information in the application is not true. This includes falsification of legal residence. Massachusetts does not allow the exclusion of income earned abroad. However, Massachusetts residents who are taxed on income in Canada or one of its provinces can claim a credit for these taxes after considering a federal loan. If you receive income from foreign sources, you can exclude foreign income attributable to the period of residence outside Canada if you qualify for the exclusion. Family members of serving military personnel may each have a different legal residence. The spouse does not automatically assume the legal residence of the active member at the time of marriage. The spouse must meet the criteria of physical presence and intention to stay or return. Minors usually assume the legal residence of one parent and, when they reach the age of 18, they also have the option of establishing their own legal residence, which may be different from that of both parents, provided they have complied with the guidelines of physical presence and intention to stay or return.
“Home of Record” should not be confused with legal residence. “Home of Record” is the address a soldier had when he entered service. It doesn`t change. The domicile of registration and legal residence may be the same address and remain so even if the person or his or her relatives no longer reside in the place until the member has established residence elsewhere after entering active service. In order to recover the “Home of Record” as legal residence, he/she must restore physical presence and intention to remain or return to the state. The United States has tax treaties with many other countries, most of which are reciprocal. If a type of income is exempt from tax for U.S. citizens working abroad, that type of income is exempt from tax for residents of foreign countries (non-resident aliens) working in the United States. The residence of a mentally incapacitated person under guardianship may be changed by the intention of the guardian (within the jurisdiction of the appointing court) or the intention of the incapable person if they have sufficient mental capacity to choose a new home.
You cannot change your residence by taking a temporary or longer-than-expected absence from Massachusetts. You must not intend to return. To change your place of residence, you must have declared your intention and taken steps to do so. Your letter of intent will be reviewed in detail. If you claim that your place of residence has changed, the burden of proof is yours. Under many tax treaties, non-resident foreign teachers and professors who temporarily visit the U.S. primarily to teach at a university or other designated educational institution are not subject to U.S. income tax on any compensation they receive for tuition fees during the first 2 or 3 years after arriving in the U.S. Factors considered in determining whether you have changed residence: Many agreements also provide exceptions for research.
Tuition payment includes payments to a non-resident foreign professor, teacher, or researcher at a U.S. university or other accredited educational institution for teaching or research work at the institution. You are a non-resident if you are neither a year-round nor a semi-annual resident.
