Virginia law imposes individual income tax filing requirements on virtually all Virginia residents, as well as on nonresidents who receive income from Virginia sources. The correct method for filing your income tax return and reporting Virginia taxable income depends on your residency status. Following the brief definitions shown below, we've provided additional details about each residency status including corresponding filing requirements.
Resident -- A person who lives in Virginia, or maintains a place of abode here, for more than 183 days during the year, or who is a legal (domiciliary) resident of the Commonwealth, is considered a Virginia resident for income tax purposes. Residents file Form 760.
Part-Year Resident -- A person who moves into Virginia during the year with the intent of becoming a resident, or a person who moves out of Virginia during the year to become a resident of another state, is a part-year resident for income tax purposes. Part-year residents generally file Form 760PY.
Nonresident -- A person who is not a resident or part-year resident, but who receives taxable income from Virginia sources is a nonresident for income tax purposes. Nonresidents file Form 763.
Federal law provides for the designation of resident aliens and nonresident aliens as special statuses for tax filing purposes. Virginia law does not make a similar provision. Therefore, a resident or nonresident alien is subject to the same Virginia residency provisions as all other filers. If you are a resident or nonresident alien required to file a federal income tax return, and you meet the definition of a Virginia resident, part-year resident, or nonresident and other filing requirements, you must file a Virginia return, unless exempted from the requirement by federal treaty.
There are two types of Virginia residents: actual and domiciliary.
Actual Residents: Individuals who are physically present in Virginia, or who maintain a place of abode here for more than 183 days during the taxable year are actual residents. The period of residency does not have to be consecutive days.
It is possible to be an actual resident of Virginia and a domiciliary resident of another state. For example, dual status commonly occurs when a resident of another state enrolls in a Virginia school and lives here during the school year.
Domiciliary Residents: Individuals whose state of legal residence in the technical sense is Virginia are domiciliary residents. Most domiciliary residents actually live in Virginia. Examples of individuals who are domiciliary residents but who do not live in Virginia are shown below:
If you are a Virginia resident, file your income tax return on Form 760. Some points you should keep in mind:
An individual who establishes or abandons Virginia as his or her state of legal residence during the taxable year is a part-year resident. The primary factor in determining eligibility for part-year residency status is your intent with respect to establishing or abandoning legal residence. As a general rule, if you move out of Virginia and return to the state within six months, you have not demonstrated intent to establish residency in another state. Other situations in which individuals would not be considered to have abandoned their Virginia domicile include:
Part-year residents have several options for reporting and computing Virginia taxable income:
When filing Form 760PY, keep these points in mind:
A nonresident is a person who is not a domiciliary or actual resident of Virginia, but who received income from Virginia sources during the taxable year.
"Income from Virginia sources" means income derived from labor performed, business conducted, or property held in Virginia, as well as lottery prizes and certain gambling winnings. Examples of Virginia source income include:
Note: Interest received by a nonresident from a personal account held in a Virginia bank and pension or annuity payments made to a nonresident from a Virginia payer are not Virginia source income.
If you are a nonresident who received Virginia source income, file your return on Form 763. Some points to keep in mind:
Virginia has reciprocity agreements with Kentucky, Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. If you are a resident of one of these states, and meet certain conditions, you may not need to file a Virginia income tax return. See Reciprocity for more information.
In selecting the proper residency status, married couples sometimes find that no one status completely addresses their circumstances. The filing of two returns for the taxable year, using different residency statuses, may be necessary in such cases. Examples are discussed below.
The term "resident" does not include any member of the United States Congress who is domiciled in another state. Even if a congressman actually lives in Virginia, he or she will not be considered a resident for tax purposes. Members of Congress are subject to Virginia income tax as nonresidents only on income received from Virginia sources (see Nonresidents). These provisions do not apply to spouses, other family members, or congressional staff members. Those individuals are subject to the same residency and filing requirements as all other persons living in Virginia (see Virginia Residents, Part-Year Residents, and Nonresidents).
Members of the armed forces on active duty are taxed only in their legal states of residence. If you are a member of the armed forces, but you are not a Virginia resident, you are not subject to Virginia income tax on your active duty military pay, even though you are stationed in Virginia. You are liable to pay Virginia income tax as a nonresident on income you earn from any business, trade, profession, or occupation in Virginia. To report this income, file Form 763.
For more information useful to members of the military, see Military Tax Tips.
Virginia residents who travel outside the country, or take up temporary or permanent residence abroad, should be aware of the filing provisions discussed below.
If you are residing or traveling outside the United States or Puerto Rico (including persons serving in the military or naval service) on May 1, you are not required to file your return until July 1 of the filing year. You must attach a statement to your return certifying that you were outside the United States or Puerto Rico on the date the return was due.
If you are a Virginia resident who accepts employment in another country or moves outside the United States for other reasons (including military orders), the fact that you are living abroad does not mean that you are no longer considered a Virginia resident for tax purposes. Unless you have established residency in another state, you will still be considered a domiciliary resident of Virginia, and will be required to file Virginia income tax returns.
A domiciliary resident of Virginia is one whose legal domicile in the technical sense is in Virginia. Unless an individual acquires a legal domicile in another state, he or she is still a Virginia resident. This applies even if the person is residing in another jurisdiction and may have been residing there for a number of years. The fact that a person has been absent from Virginia, whether in the foreign service of the United States or in the exercise of private enterprise, does not in any way cancel out their Virginia citizenship or legal domicile. As a matter of law, he or she is as much liable to income taxation in Virginia as residents who are physically present in Virginia throughout the year.
Every resident of Virginia, including domiciliary residents, is liable to state income taxation as a resident. This means that they are subject to Virginia income tax on their entire income, whether it came from sources in or outside of Virginia. Those persons qualifying to exclude certain foreign income from their federal returns in accordance with Section 911 of the Internal Revenue Code will receive the same exclusion on their Virginia returns.
File your return with the Commissioner of the Revenue, Director of Finance, or Director of Tax Administration for the city or county in which you lived - find mailing addresses here.
Students are subject to the same rules for residency and filing requirements as all other filers. For example, if you lived in Virginia for more than 183 days during the taxable year, you are classified as an actual resident, and must file Form 760 even if you maintained your legal residency in another state. If you maintained legal residency in Virginia, but attended school in another state, you are still considered a Virginia resident and must file Form 760. If you had income in the other state, you may be required to file in that state also.