District of Columbia — Tax Residency Rule
Summary
- Day threshold
- 183 days or more
- What is counted
- Days you maintain a place of abode in DC
- Window
- Taxable year (resets annually)
- Domicile route
- Domiciled in DC at any time in the year
- Effect
- Taxed on income from all sources
- Basis
- DC Code §47-1801.04(42)
The District of Columbia treats you as a statutory resident if you maintain a place of abode in DC for an aggregate of 183 days or more in the taxable year — even if your permanent home (domicile) is somewhere else. The line is inclusive: day 183 triggers it, so 182 is the most you can have. Separately, anyone domiciled in DC at any time during the year is a resident with no day count at all.
Who it applies to
This matters most if you are:
- Someone who keeps an apartment or second home in DC while claiming a permanent home in another state.
- A contractor, consultant or remote worker spending long stretches in the District without intending to make it your permanent base.
- A part-year mover whose stay in DC straddles a job or relocation and pushes the day count toward the threshold.
It applies to individuals regardless of citizenship or visa status — the test turns on a place to live in the District, not on where you are from. Some federal officials have specific carve-outs written into the statute (see below).
The rule — and why it exists
DC Code §47-1801.04(42) defines a resident as “an individual domiciled in the District at any time during the taxable year, and every other individual who maintains a place of abode within the District for an aggregate of 183 days or more during the taxable year, whether or not the individual is domiciled in the District”. That gives two independent routes:
- Statutory residency (the 183-day test). Maintain a place of abode in the District for 183 days or more in the taxable year and you are taxed as a resident, regardless of where your domicile is.
- Domicile. If DC is your true, fixed, permanent home at any point in the year, you are a resident no matter how few days you spend there. The statute adds that absence for temporary or transitory purposes does not change your domicile or place of abode.
What makes DC different: most 183-day states count days of physical presence and then ask whether you also have a home. DC's statute counts the days you maintain the abode — so the question is how long you kept a place to live in the District, not only how many nights you slept there.
Counting the days
- 1Count each day you maintain a place of abode in the District during the taxable year (for most people, 1 January to 31 December).
- 2According to the Office of Tax and Revenue, days of temporary absence while you keep the abode are counted too.
- 3Days are aggregated across the year, so separate periods of keeping an abode add together.
- 4You become a statutory resident once the aggregate reaches 183 days. Day 183 is the trigger, not day 184.
Because the window is the taxable year, an abode kept across a year-end can leave you under 183 days in each individual year even though the total period is longer.
What Bounded counts. Until you confirm a DC home, the counter only shows your days in DC and gives no warning. Once you confirm one, it counts every day of the year as a day you kept the abode — from 1 January, or from the counter's start date if your DC home began later — and warns after 182, so day 183 is never a surprise. Once you set a start date, DC visits before it no longer count. The counter has no end date, so if you gave the home up during the year it keeps counting and runs high. It also cannot apply the federal carve-outs below — if one covers you, ignore its warning.
Examples
Example 1 — resident by abode days
Your family home is in Virginia, but you rent a DC apartment on a 12-month lease and sleep there about 150 nights a year. The statute counts days you maintain the abode, not nights, and OTR counts days of temporary absence toward the 183 — so DC can count the whole year of the lease. On these facts, expect to be treated as a DC statutory resident, taxed on income from all sources for that year, unless you can show that your Virginia days were not mere temporary absences from the DC apartment.
Example 2 — resident despite few days
You spend only about 90 days in the District, but DC is where your permanent, fixed home is — you vote, bank, and centre your life there. You are a resident under the domicile route even though you are nowhere near 183 days; the day count is irrelevant here.
Example 3 — an abode across year-end
You keep a DC sublet from 1 October to 30 April and then give it up. Split by taxable year, that is 92 days of abode in the first year and 120 in the second (121 in a leap year) — under 183 in each, so neither year alone triggers statutory residency, even though the sublet lasted about seven months.
Exceptions & edge cases
- Domicile overrides the count. If DC is your domicile at any time in the year, you are a resident below 183 days; statutory residency only matters for people domiciled elsewhere.
- No abode, no statutory test. Without a place of abode you maintain in the District, the 183-day statutory-resident rule does not apply — though domicile could still reach you.
- Federal carve-outs. The statute excludes elected US officials; staff of members of Congress who are bona fide residents of the member's home state; presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate who serve at the President's pleasure; and Supreme Court justices — unless they are domiciled in DC at some point in the year.
- Part-year situations. Moving into or out of the District mid-year can make you a part-year resident; you file Form D-40, and the standard deduction is prorated by the number of months you were a resident (DC Code §47-1801.04(44)(D)).
Common misconceptions
- "DC uses more than 183 days." No — the District's line is 183 days or more. Day 183 counts.
- "Only nights I sleep in DC count." The statute counts days you maintain the abode, and OTR includes days of temporary absence — a year-round lease can reach 183 on its own.
- "Only my DC income is taxed." A statutory resident is taxed on income from all sources for that year, the same as a domiciliary.
- "I have to own a home for it to count." A rented apartment or any dwelling you maintain and can live in qualifies as a place of abode.
Frequently asked questions
It keeps you out of the statutory-resident test, which applies at 183 days or more — so 182 is the most. But if you are domiciled in DC at any time during the year, you are a resident regardless of how few days you spend there.
Per taxable year — for most people the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. Days from one year never carry into the next.
No — you need a place of abode you maintain, which includes a rented apartment, not only an owned home. Without any abode in the District, the 183-day statutory-resident test does not apply to you.
A statutory resident files Form D-40 like a domiciliary and is taxed by DC on income from all sources for the year, not just on income earned inside the District. DC allows a credit for tax paid to other states on the same income, though it may not equal the full amount paid.
Not necessarily. The statute counts days on which you maintain a place of abode in the District, and the Office of Tax and Revenue says days of temporary absence are counted toward the 183. Keeping a DC apartment for most of the year is therefore the real risk, even if you travel a lot.
This rule is tracked automaticallyin
Bounded
- Automatically tracks your days for this rule
- Once you confirm a DC home, counts every day you keep it and warns before 183; until then, shows your days in DC
- Records border-crossing days in both countries
- Runs alongside your other visa, tax, and residency rules
Sources
Related rules
For information only. This page is a plain-English summary of publicly available rules, not tax, legal, or immigration advice. Rules change and depend on your personal circumstances — always confirm with the official source above and a qualified professional before acting.