Before i talk to my CPA i'd like to get as informed on this issue as possible.

Suppose I am living in California, planning to move to New York City.

If i buy property in Florida now, how long do i have to live there to obtain Florida residency and stop paying California state taxes?

How soon would i be able to rent/buy property in NYC while still maintaining Florida residency?

How much time per year would i have to spend in Florida to claim it as my primary residence to avoid NYC/NY taxes?

I've been googling but haven't found much; i would appreciate if anyone can point me in the right direction of where to find more info. I know my CPA will be able to answer a lot of questions but I just want to find out as much as possible right now.

Will the IRS look at my airline history to determine where I've been? if so, there really is no escaping the nyc/ny taxes

I'd be extremely surprised if you can legally avoid paying NY state/local income taxes on income earned from working in NYC just because you establish a primary residence in FL.

As Lumpr is referencing, where you earn your income decides where you have to pay state taxes.

The IRS won't care as it is state taxes you will be trying to avoid. The only legal way to do this that I'm aware of is joining the military. Almost every military member has their residence in a non income tax state, no matter where they live. If you are going to work for someone there is really no way to avoid paying, if you are self employed or a pro you can choose not to file a return in NY and take your chances.

The 4% NYC tax is based on residency, and the threshold is living in NYC for 6 months or more of the calendar year. NY state tax, which is separate from the 4% NYC tax, is based on where you earn the money. So, for example, if you live in NJ but work in NY, you would still pay NY state tax for the money from your job. I'm not sure how that works for non-B&M jobs like being a poker pro where a portion of your money could be earned while you're on your computer in another state. I remember there being some cases about NY athletes who lived in FL trying to get out of NY state taxes on the argument that half of their money is earned while they're playing in other states. I don't remember what the ruling was.

Huh??

1/2 the people who work in DC don't live there. They pay Va or Md state income tax.

You pay where you (legally) live.

I don't know the answer to your question. But something else you should consider is that Florida partially makes up for the lack of state income tax through higher property taxes.

I smell some stupid in this thread....hire a cpa pronto.

That's not true everywhere. If you work in NY, you pay NY state tax.

That's only because Congress won't allow DC to have a commuter tax.

That's cause DC isn't a state.

IME (I am not a CPA, an accountant of any kind, or an attorney), you pay BOTH tax in your state of residence and in the state in which you work. Then typically you get the lesser back.

e.g., I worked in NJ but live in MI. Since I paid NJ state tax on the money already, I didn't owe anything to NJ. MI wanted to know about the money, but since I had paid more to NJ than I'd owe to MI, that income was (state) tax deductible in MI.

otoh, when I resided in NJ, I worked in MN, paid state tax, but it would have been more in NJ. I had to pay the difference that year.

lots of bad advice in this thread. OP, what you're trying to do can be done. You need to go post your questions and do your research over at:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...s/forum/33.cfm
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?board=65.0
http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showforum=5

Those websites all have plenty of information for you to be able to figure it out.