Moving from Michigan to Louisiana: Residency, Taxes, and What to Prove

In Michigan

Michigan applies its ordinary domicile and 183-day deeming rule to a travel nurse the same as anyone else: a nurse who lives in Michigan at least 183 days in a tax year is statutorily deemed a Michigan domiciliary regardless of a claimed out-of-state tax home. The more frequent exposure runs the other way, where a nurse claims a Florida or Texas tax home while actually renting in Michigan for most of an assignment; Michigan and, where applicable, a Michigan city both tax nonresident wages for days actually worked in the jurisdiction regardless of the claimed tax home.

In Louisiana

Louisiana's hospital systems in New Orleans and Baton Rouge draw significant travel-nurse staffing, and Louisiana taxes nonresident wages for work physically performed in the state regardless of the nurse's claimed tax home elsewhere, requiring a nonresident IT-540B on those wages. A nurse whose combined time in Louisiana across contracts exceeds six months while maintaining a place to stay risks the statutory-residency test pulling them into full resident status for the year.

In Michigan

Michigan and the City of Detroit both tax nonresident professional athletes on a duty-day basis. Detroit's jock tax, formally codified in 2017, applies its duty-day apportionment broadly, reaching injured players who travel with the team as well as coaches, trainers, and other team personnel required to travel and perform services, not just players who take the field. This applies to visiting teams playing the Lions, Pistons, Tigers, and Red Wings.

In Louisiana

The New Orleans Saints (NFL) and New Orleans Pelicans (NBA) are Louisiana's major professional franchises. Louisiana taxes nonresident athletes and entertainers on income allocated to duty days or performances in the state, the standard jock-tax structure, while Louisiana-domiciled players on those teams are taxed on their full salary as residents, subject to credits for tax paid to other states on road games.

In Michigan

The Michigan snowbird risk runs directly through the Principal Residence Exemption and the 183-day deeming rule together. Campbell v. Department of Treasury shows that simply acquiring a second home in a state like Arizona, without more, was enough for Treasury to deny the PRE on the Michigan home for the following tax year, and Treasury's three-year lookback on PRE claims means a snowbird's arrangement gets checked retroactively, not just going forward. Separately, spending at least 183 days in Michigan in a year, even a retiree splitting time between an Up North cottage and Florida, statutorily deems that person a Michigan domiciliary for the year.

In Louisiana

Louisiana's statutory six-month-plus-abode test is the practical trap for long visitors: someone who splits time between a Louisiana camp or second home and another state can be pulled into full Louisiana residency simply by crossing 183 days while maintaining that Louisiana abode, regardless of where they consider themselves domiciled. Post-hurricane displacement (evacuation for Katrina, Ida, and similar storms) has also raised genuine questions about whether temporary out-of-state sheltering interrupts domicile; the general rule is that involuntary, temporary displacement does not by itself establish a new domicile or abandon the Louisiana one.

In Michigan

Michigan has no convenience-of-the-employer rule at the state level. A nonresident who works remotely from another state for a Michigan-based employer is generally not taxed by Michigan on those wages, since the state sources employee compensation to where work is physically performed rather than to the employer's location; the same principle generally applies to Michigan's local city income taxes.

In Louisiana

Louisiana has no convenience-of-the-employer rule; wages are sourced to where the work is physically performed. A Louisiana resident working remotely for an out-of-state employer owes Louisiana tax on that income as a resident, and someone who leaves Louisiana but still works occasional in-state days can owe nonresident tax on just those days.

In Michigan

Michigan follows the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. A servicemember whose domicile was Michigan before entering service remains a Michigan domiciliary regardless of duty station unless they affirmatively establish a new domicile, while a servicemember stationed in Michigan on orders, and a qualifying spouse, does not become a Michigan resident solely because of the posting.

In Louisiana

Louisiana fully exempts military retirement pay from state income tax. Active-duty pay follows the servicemember's SCRA state of legal residence, and a nonresident military spouse in Louisiana solely due to the servicemember's orders can generally avoid Louisiana tax on their own income under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, provided they share the same non-Louisiana domicile as the servicemember.

In Michigan

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, protecting flight crew based at Detroit Metro who are domiciled outside Michigan from full-income Michigan taxation based solely on their duty station.

In Louisiana

Louisiana has no major airline hub or flight-crew domicile base comparable to Dallas-Fort Worth or Atlanta; Louis Armstrong New Orleans International is served by multiple carriers but is not a crew base of national significance, so the federal Mobile Workforce carve-out for air carrier employees has limited practical relevance for Louisiana residents specifically.