Residency Migration Reference
Moving from Illinois to Virginia: Residency, Taxes, and What to Prove
Illinois's 4.95% (flat) top income tax rate becomes 5.75% in Virginia. This move trades a lighter tax environment for a heavier one, so timing income around the transition year matters.
Residency Tests Side by Side
Illinois does not use a simple day-count threshold; it applies a facts-and-circumstances test instead. Virginia's statutory residency test uses a 183-day threshold.
| Factor | Illinois | Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory Residency Test | Illinois has no statutory residency test of the New York or Minnesota type: no bright-line day count and no permanent place of abode prong. 35 ILCS 5/1501(a)(20)(A) defines a resident as an individual '(i) who is in this State for other than a temporary or transitory purpose during the taxable year; or (ii) who is domiciled in this State but is absent from the State for a temporary or transitory purpose during the taxable year.' Those are the only two routes to Illinois residency for an individual. Cain v. Hamer, 2012 IL App (1st) 112833, shows how far that departure from a day count runs: snowbird retirees who spent 1,666 days in Illinois against 1,700 in Florida across 1996 through 2004, an average well above 183 Illinois days a year, were held not to be Illinois residents. Day counts matter in Illinois as evidence of purpose and as inputs to the administrative presumptions, not as a threshold that decides residency by itself. | Virginia Code §58.1-302 defines 'resident' to include any individual domiciled in Virginia during the taxable year, and separately, any individual not domiciled in Virginia who nonetheless maintains a place of abode in Virginia for more than 183 days in the aggregate during the year. This second category, called an actual resident, is taxed as a Virginia resident on worldwide income regardless of domicile, the same structural approach used by New York and several other statutory-residency states. |
| Domicile Test | Illinois follows the traditional common-law domicile standard under 86 Ill. Adm. Code 100.3020: domicile is the place a person intends as their true, fixed, permanent home, and to which they intend to return whenever absent. A person can have only one domicile at a time, and it continues until a new one is established through both physical presence in the new location and demonstrated intent to abandon Illinois as the permanent home. The Department of Revenue looks at where a person votes, holds a driver's license and registers vehicles, banks, keeps professional relationships (doctor, lawyer, accountant), works, houses family, and belongs to clubs or religious institutions; no single factor controls. | Virginia uses a multifactor, intent-based test to determine domicile and, importantly, requires both elements together to change it: the taxpayer must abandon Virginia domicile with no intent to return, and must simultaneously establish a new domicile elsewhere through physical presence plus intent to remain. Virginia Tax's published guidance states no single factor is dispositive; a bare declaration of intent or physical relocation alone is not enough, and continuing Virginia ties like a Virginia driver's license or voter registration are treated as evidence domicile was not actually abandoned. |
| Day Count Threshold | No fixed threshold | 183 days |
| Any Part of a Day Rule | Not applicable in the statutory sense, because Illinois has no day-count threshold for an individual to cross. There is no any-part-of-a-day rule to apply. Days still get counted in Illinois practice, both because 86 Ill. Adm. Code 100.3020(f) presumes residency above nine months in the aggregate and presumes continued residency where an individual is present in Illinois more days than in any other state, and because the Department of Revenue's audit division reconstructs presence from credit card, toll, and travel records to test whether time in Illinois was temporary or transitory. | Virginia's statute measures aggregate days maintaining a place of abode in Virginia, not single calendar-day presence, and does not publish an explicit any-part-of-a-day rule the way New York's regulations do. In practice this makes Virginia's actual-resident test closer to a cumulative day-count test than a strict any-part-of-day trigger. |
| Presumptions | 86 Ill. Adm. Code 100.3020(f) supplies four rebuttable presumptions in place of a statutory day test. An individual who spends in the aggregate more than nine months of any taxable year in Illinois is presumed to be a resident. An individual absent from Illinois for one year or more is presumed to be a nonresident. An individual receiving a homestead exemption on Illinois property under 35 ILCS 200/15-175 is presumed to be an Illinois resident. And an Illinois resident in one year is presumed to be a resident the following year 'if he or she is present in Illinois more days than he or she is present in any other state.' The presumptions 'are not conclusive and may be overcome by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary,' with the rule listing acceptable rebuttal evidence including location of spouse and dependents, voter and vehicle registration, driver's license, filing a resident return elsewhere, home ownership or rental agreements, the permanent or temporary nature of work assignments, location of professional licenses, location of medical providers, accountants and attorneys, club memberships and participation, and telephone or other utility usage over a duration of time. | Virginia Tax guidance treats a return to Virginia within six months of leaving as generally indicating no intent to have established residency elsewhere, similar to the boomerang concepts used by Kentucky and other nearby states, though Virginia frames this as evidence within the intent-based domicile test rather than an automatic statutory rule. |
| Safe Harbors | None published | None published |
Leaving Illinois
Illinois is not in the top tier of aggressive exit-audit states the way New York or California are, but the Department of Revenue does examine departing high earners, especially where a large capital gain or business sale occurred near the claimed move date, or where the taxpayer kept an Illinois home, spouse, or business presence after claiming nonresidency. Auditors reconstruct day counts using credit card statements, toll records, airline records, and utility usage, and they cross-check the General Homestead Exemption against a claimed out-of-state domicile.
Trailing Income
Illinois does not have a convenience-of-the-employer rule, so a former resident who telecommutes for an Illinois employer from another state generally is not taxed by Illinois on those wages solely because the employer is based in Illinois; sourcing follows where the work is actually performed. Illinois does tax nonresident income that is Illinois-source, including compensation for services actually performed in Illinois, gain on the sale of Illinois real property, and a departing resident's share of Illinois business income allocated under the state's apportionment rules for the period they were still a resident or doing business in the state.
Part-Year Filing
Form IL-1040 together with Schedule NR, Nonresident and Part-Year Resident Computation of Illinois Tax, is used for the year someone moves into or out of Illinois. Schedule NR allocates income between the Illinois-resident portion of the year and the nonresident portion, and computes an Illinois tax based only on Illinois-source and Illinois-period income.
Enforcement Methods
Common Exit Mistakes
Establishing Virginia Residency
| Action | Agency | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Obtain a Virginia driver's license | Virginia DMV | within 60 days of establishing residency |
| Register any vehicle kept in Virginia | Virginia DMV | within 30 days |
| Register to vote | Virginia Department of Elections | at least 21 days before an election |
Declaration of Domicile
Virginia has no formal declaration-of-domicile filing comparable to Florida's county recording process. Domicile is established through the two-part intent test: affirmative abandonment of any prior domicile with no intent to return, combined with physical presence in and intent to remain in Virginia, demonstrated through home purchase or lease, DMV registration, and voter registration.
Homestead
Virginia does not have a statewide homestead exemption for domicile purposes. Instead, real estate tax relief for elderly and disabled homeowners is a local-option program under Va. Code §58.1-3210, adopted county by county or city by city with locally set income and asset limits, and administered by the local Commissioner of the Revenue or City Assessor rather than the state. Enrollment in a locality's relief program still functions as domicile evidence since it requires the property be the applicant's primary residence.
Voter Registration
Register online, by mail, or in person at least 21 days before an election. https://vote.elections.virginia.gov
Vehicle Registration Deadline
30 days
New Resident Tax Traps
A new Virginia resident is taxed on worldwide income from the date Virginia domicile begins, reported on the full-year or Form 760PY part-year return. Someone moving from a reciprocal jurisdiction (DC, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia) needs to update employer withholding once Virginia domicile is established, since the reciprocity exemption that applied as a nonresident commuter no longer applies to a Virginia resident.
What Changes on Tax
Illinois Top Rate
4.95% (flat)
Virginia Top Rate
5.75%
Moving from Illinois to Virginia raises the top marginal income tax rate from about 4.95% to about 5.75%, an increase of roughly 0.8 percentage points.
Withholding Reciprocity
Illinois and Virginia do not have a wage-withholding reciprocity agreement with each other, so this move follows ordinary source-state and resident-state filing rules rather than a reciprocity exception.
Community Property Transition
Illinois and Virginia both use common law, equitable-distribution marital property rules, so no community property transition applies to this move.
Beyond Income Tax
Illinois
Capital gains: No preferential rate. Capital gains are taxed as ordinary income at the same 4.95% flat rate as wages.
Estate or inheritance tax: Illinois has an estate tax with a $4 million exemption per estate that is not indexed for inflation and is not portable between spouses. Rates are graduated from roughly 0.8% up to 16% on the amount above the exemption. There is no separate inheritance tax.
Property tax: Illinois has the highest statewide effective property tax rate in the country, around 1.92% of home value, more than double the national median. The General Homestead Exemption reduces the taxable assessed value of an owner-occupied principal residence by up to $10,000 in Cook County, $8,000 in counties bordering Cook, and $6,000 elsewhere.
Sales tax: State base rate is 6.25%, but local home-rule and county taxes push combined rates as high as 11.5% in parts of Cook, Kane, and Warren counties; the effective statewide average is closer to 8.9%.
Virginia
Capital gains: Virginia has no separate capital gains rate. Gains are included in federal adjusted gross income and taxed as ordinary income under the same graduated brackets, so long-term gains can face the 5.75% top rate.
Estate or inheritance tax: None. Virginia's estate tax was effectively repealed for deaths on or after July 1, 2007, when the state decoupled from the federal state death tax credit, and Virginia has never had an inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax can apply to a Virginia decedent's estate.
Property tax: Average effective property tax rate is about 0.8%, below the national average, though Northern Virginia localities run meaningfully higher in dollar terms due to home values. Real estate tax relief for elderly and disabled homeowners is a local-option program under Va. Code §58.1-3210 that each county or city may adopt separately, with income and asset limits set locally rather than by the state.
Sales tax: State sales tax rate is 5.3% (a portion of which is a statewide local tax), with some regions, including Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, adding regional add-ons that push the combined rate higher.
Who This Move Applies To
Travel Nurses
In Illinois
Illinois has no statutory day-count test to trip, so a travel nurse not domiciled in Illinois does not become an Illinois resident merely by crossing a day threshold on a long assignment. What creates exposure instead is the temporary or transitory question and the 100.3020(f) presumptions: an assignment structured as a series of renewals that keeps a nurse in Illinois more than nine months of a year, or more days than in any other state, supports a presumption of residency that must be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, and the permanent or temporary nature of the work assignment is named in the rule as relevant evidence. The more common Illinois exposure is the reverse pattern, where a nurse claims a Florida or Texas tax home but actually lives in and pays Illinois-area rent for most of the year; Illinois-source wages for days actually worked in Illinois are taxable to any nonresident nurse regardless of claimed tax home.
In Virginia
Virginia applies the same actual-resident and domicile tests to travel nurses as to anyone else: a nurse not domiciled in Virginia who maintains a Virginia abode for more than 183 aggregate days during assignments becomes an actual resident taxed on worldwide income. The nationally common problem, a nurse claiming a no-tax-state tax home while actually living in a Virginia rental for most of the year, is analyzed under this same statutory framework rather than a nurse-specific carve-out.
Professional Athletes
In Illinois
Illinois taxes nonresident professional athletes on a duty-day basis: Illinois-source income equals total compensation multiplied by the ratio of duty days in Illinois (games, practices, mandatory team functions) to total duty days for the season; mere travel through Illinois without a game or team event does not create a duty day. This applies to visiting teams playing the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs, and Illinois is regarded by practitioners as an aggressive, well-enforced jock-tax state that historically extended the tax reciprocally to any state that taxed Illinois-based athletes.
In Virginia
Virginia has historically had no NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL franchise physically based in the Commonwealth, though the Washington Capitals and Wizards' NBA/NHL practice facility and a planned new arena project have brought professional sports infrastructure into Northern Virginia. Nonresident athletes and entertainers earning income for events performed in Virginia are subject to the state's standard nonresident sourcing rules on Form 763, but there is no widely published Virginia-specific duty-days regulation comparable to New York's.
Snowbirds, Long Visitors, and RVers
In Illinois
The Illinois snowbird risk runs entirely through the 100.3020(f) presumptions, not through a day threshold. A retiree who keeps the Illinois house and spends more than nine months there risks the nine-month presumption of residency, and a former Illinois resident is presumed to still be one in the following year if present in Illinois more days than in any other state, which is a comparison a snowbird splitting a year can lose well short of any traditional threshold. The favorable counterweight is Cain v. Hamer, 2012 IL App (1st) 112833, where retirees who split time nearly evenly (1,666 Illinois days against 1,700 Florida days across 1996 through 2004) were held nonresidents, with the court weighing nexus evidence such as Florida licenses, voter registration, a Florida declaration of domicile, club spending, and credit card data showing 73% of expenditures and 61% of transactions outside Illinois. Illinois's General Homestead Exemption is a specific cross-check point if a person claims Florida domicile but keeps the Illinois exemption active.
In Virginia
The Virginia snowbird risk runs through the aggregate 183-day actual-resident test: a retiree who keeps a Virginia home and spends more than 183 aggregate days there in a year, even while also wintering in Florida, becomes an actual Virginia resident taxed on worldwide income regardless of where they consider themselves domiciled. Because Virginia measures aggregate days maintaining the abode rather than a stricter any-part-of-day rule, careful counting of total days present, not just overnight stays, matters for anyone trying to stay under the threshold.
Remote Workers
In Illinois
Illinois has no convenience-of-the-employer rule. A nonresident who works remotely from another state for an Illinois-based employer is generally not taxed by Illinois on those wages, because Illinois sources employee compensation to where the services are physically performed, not to the employer's location. This makes Illinois meaningfully less sticky for remote workers than New York or a handful of other convenience-rule states.
In Virginia
Virginia has no published convenience-of-the-employer rule. A nonresident who works remotely for a Virginia-based employer while physically located and domiciled outside Virginia is generally not taxed by Virginia on that income, since Virginia sources wages based on where work is actually performed rather than the employer's location.
Military
In Illinois
Illinois follows the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. A servicemember whose home of record is Illinois remains an Illinois domiciliary for tax purposes regardless of duty station unless they take affirmative steps to change domicile, while a servicemember stationed in Illinois on orders, and their qualifying spouse, does not become an Illinois resident solely because of the posting, and military pay is not Illinois-source income for a nonresident servicemember stationed there.
In Virginia
Virginia's domiciliary-resident category expressly includes servicemembers who entered the military from Virginia and retained Virginia as their home of record; absence from Virginia on military orders does not by itself cancel Virginia domicile. Under the federal SCRA and Military Spouses Residency Relief Act as amended, a nonresident servicemember stationed in Virginia on orders is not taxed on military pay solely because of the duty station, and a military spouse can generally elect the servicemember's state of legal residence.
Airline Crew
In Illinois
Federal law (49 U.S.C. §40116) limits states to taxing airline employee compensation only in the employee's state of residence and any state where more than 50% of pay is earned. This protects flight crew based at O'Hare or Midway who are domiciled outside Illinois from having their full compensation pulled into Illinois taxation solely because their duty station is in Illinois.
In Virginia
Federal law (49 U.S.C. §40116) limits states to taxing an air carrier employee's compensation only in the state of residence and any state where more than 50% of pay is earned, protecting flight crew connected to Virginia operations, including those based near Washington Dulles, from having their full income pulled into Virginia taxation solely because of duty station if they are domiciled elsewhere.
Tools for This Move
Illinois to Virginia FAQ
Does Illinois have a 183-day rule like New York or Minnesota?+
No. This is the single most common misconception about Illinois residency. 35 ILCS 5/1501(a)(20) contains no day-count threshold and no permanent place of abode prong; a resident is someone in Illinois for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, or an Illinois domiciliary absent for a temporary or transitory purpose. What Illinois has instead are the rebuttable presumptions in 86 Ill. Adm. Code 100.3020(f), including a presumption of residency above nine months in the aggregate and a presumption that a prior-year resident remains one if present in Illinois more days than in any other state. The practical difference is real in both directions: crossing 183 Illinois days does not by itself make you a resident, and staying under 183 does not by itself make you a nonresident.
How many days can I spend in Virginia before I become a resident, even if I'm domiciled somewhere else?+
Under Virginia Code §58.1-302, if you're not domiciled in Virginia but maintain a place of abode there for more than 183 aggregate days during the year, you become an actual resident taxed on worldwide income regardless of domicile. Virginia counts aggregate days maintaining the abode, not a stricter any-part-of-day rule, so total days present across the year is what matters, not just individual short visits.
If I move to Florida but keep my Chicago condo, will Illinois still tax me?+
Keeping the condo does not by itself make you taxable, because Illinois has no permanent place of abode test that a retained condo could trigger. The risk runs through purpose and presumptions instead. If you spend more than nine months of the year in Illinois, or simply more days there than in any other state after a year as an Illinois resident, the Department gets a presumption of residency you can rebut only by clear and convincing evidence. Continuing to claim the General Homestead Exemption on the condo is worse than the condo itself, since that alone creates its own presumption of Illinois residency and is a cross-check Illinois auditors run directly against a claimed out-of-state domicile.
I moved out of Virginia but kept my driver's license. Does that matter?+
Yes, significantly. Virginia's domicile test requires proof you abandoned Virginia domicile with no intent to return and established a new one elsewhere with genuine intent to remain. Virginia Tax's published guidance treats continuing Virginia ties like a Virginia driver's license or voter registration as evidence you have not actually abandoned Virginia domicile, even if you're now physically living somewhere else most of the time.
Does Illinois have a convenience-of-the-employer rule for remote workers?+
No. Illinois sources employee wages to where the work is physically performed, not to where the employer is headquartered. A nonresident who works remotely from another state for a Chicago-based employer generally is not taxed by Illinois on those wages, which is a meaningful difference from convenience-rule states like New York, and it means remote workers face less Illinois exposure after moving away than they might expect.
I keep two homes and go back and forth between Virginia and a no-tax state. How does Virginia decide if I'm a resident?+
Two separate tests can catch you. First, if you're not domiciled in Virginia but maintain a Virginia abode for more than 183 aggregate days in the year, you're an actual resident regardless of domicile. Second, if you are domiciled in Virginia, you remain a domiciliary resident on worldwide income unless you can prove you both abandoned Virginia domicile with no intent to return and established genuine domicile elsewhere, which retained Virginia ties like a driver's license or voter registration can undercut.
How do I file my Illinois taxes for the year I move out of state?+
File Form IL-1040 together with Schedule NR, the Nonresident and Part-Year Resident Computation of Illinois Tax. Schedule NR splits your income between the period you were an Illinois resident, which is taxed in full, and the period after you became a nonresident, when only Illinois-source income is taxed. Skipping Schedule NR and simply filing as a full-year nonresident in your move year is a common and easily flagged mistake.
I moved away from Virginia but had to move back within a few months. Does that hurt my case?+
It can. Virginia Tax's guidance treats a return to the state within about six months of leaving as generally indicating you never actually intended to establish residency elsewhere, which works against a claimed domicile change for the period in between. This mirrors similar boomerang-style rules used by neighboring states like Kentucky, though Virginia frames it as evidence in the intent-based test rather than an automatic statutory trigger.
I work in Illinois but live in Wisconsin. Do I have to file two state returns?+
Illinois has reciprocity with Wisconsin, Iowa, Kentucky, and Michigan, so a Wisconsin resident working in Illinois generally does not owe Illinois tax on those wages and should not have Illinois tax withheld; instead, only Wisconsin taxes that income. If Illinois tax was withheld in error, you file for a refund from Illinois rather than claiming a credit, and you report the income on your Wisconsin return as usual.
What does it cost to defend a Virginia residency audit?+
No published statewide figure exists. Virginia is consistently grouped by practitioners alongside New York, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland as one of the more aggressive residency-audit states, particularly for high earners whose income drops sharply the year they claim to have left, which implies defense costs for a contested Virginia case can run comparably high, but no firm has published a specific dollar range.
Will keeping the homestead exemption on my Illinois house hurt me if I claim Florida residency?+
Yes, it's a direct contradiction auditors specifically look for. The General Homestead Exemption requires the property to be your owner-occupied principal residence as of January 1, so continuing to receive it while filing as an Illinois nonresident and claiming Florida domicile undercuts your own position. If you've genuinely moved, removing the exemption is one of the concrete steps that supports your new domicile claim.
Do I have to file a Virginia return for the year I move out?+
Yes. Use Form 760PY, the Virginia Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return, which allocates your income between the period you were a Virginia resident and the period you were not. If you have Virginia-source income after becoming a full-year nonresident in a later year, that's reported on Form 763 instead.
Planning the reverse move?
Virginia to Illinois
Moving the other direction is a different fact pattern, not a mirror image. Establishing Illinois residency has its own tests, deadlines, and audit posture.
Start with the Illinois residency guideAlso Consider, Leaving Illinois
Illinois to Virginia Reading
Reviewed Against 26 Primary Sources
ResidencyIQ organizes public residency research into a reviewable reference. It does not provide legal or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional before making a residency decision.
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