Nebraska — Tax Residency Rule

Summary

Time threshold

More than six months (aggregate) — 183 days in DOR guidance

Window

Taxable year (calendar year for most)

Also requires

A permanent place of abode in NE

Effect

Taxed as a Nebraska resident

Basis

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2714.01(7); Reg-22-001

You are a Nebraska resident for income tax if you maintain a permanent place of abode in the state and spend, in the aggregate, more than six months of the taxable year there — even if your domicile is elsewhere. The statute measures the stay in months; the Department of Revenue applies it as at least 183 days in the tax year, counting any part of a day as a day. Separately, anyone domiciled in Nebraska is a resident regardless of days.

Who it applies to

This matters most if you are:

• Someone domiciled in another state who rents or owns a place in Nebraska and spends long stretches there.
• A worker on a long Nebraska assignment who takes an apartment or even a room rather than staying in hotels.
• Someone who buys or sells a Nebraska home during the year, which can make residency start or stop mid-year.
• A U.S. citizen living abroad whose last U.S. domicile was Nebraska.

It applies regardless of citizenship or visa status; the test turns on domicile, presence and housing.

The rule — and why it exists

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2714.01(7) defines a resident individual as someone who is domiciled in Nebraska or who maintains a permanent place of abode in the state and spends in the aggregate more than six months of the taxable year there. The Department of Revenue's regulation (Reg-22-001) fills in the detail:

• Domicile. Your true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment, to which you intend to return. You remain a resident while absent for temporary or transitory purposes.
• Abode plus presence. The six-month test is met by an individual who, for an aggregate of more than six months, both maintains a permanent place of abode in Nebraska and is present there.
• A broad abode definition. A dwelling place permanently maintained by you — house, apartment, room or other accommodation suitable for human occupation — whether or not you actually use it.
• Start and end dates. Residency under this test begins on the date the abode is established and ends on the date it is abandoned; with an abode at both the start and end of the year, you are a resident for the whole year.

Why it exists: the abode-plus-time test reaches people who effectively live in Nebraska for most of the year while claiming a domicile elsewhere, without catching short-term visitors who keep no home in the state.

Counting the days

1. 1Track the days you are in Nebraska during the taxable year (1 January to 31 December for calendar-year filers).
2. 2Only the period in which you both maintain a Nebraska abode and are present matters for the six-month test.
3. 3Count any part of a day in Nebraska as a full day — that is how the Department of Revenue counts.
4. 4The statute says more than six months; the Department's guidance treats at least 183 days with an abode as meeting it, so 182 days is the most you can spend there with an abode.

The tally resets each taxable year, so a long stay split across 31 December is assessed separately in each year.

Examples

Example 1 — resident by abode and time

You are domiciled in Kansas but rent an apartment in Omaha all year and are in Nebraska for about 210 days. That is well over six months with an abode maintained throughout, so you are a Nebraska resident for the whole year.

Example 2 — many days, no abode

You spend 200 days in Nebraska on short work trips, always in hotels booked night by night, and keep no dwelling there. Without a permanent place of abode the statutory test is not met, though Nebraska can still tax your Nebraska-source income as a nonresident.

Example 3 — a stay across year-end

You keep a Nebraska home and stay from 1 October to 30 April. That is 92 days in the first year (October to December) and 120 days in the second (January to April; 121 in a leap year). Neither year comes near six months, so the statutory test is not met in either year on these facts alone.

Exceptions & edge cases

• Partial-year statutory residents. If you acquire a Nebraska abode mid-year (or give one up) and meet the six-month test, the regulation makes you a resident from the date the abode was established (or until it was abandoned) rather than for the whole year.
• Citizens living abroad. A U.S. citizen abroad whose last U.S. domicile was Nebraska stays a Nebraska resident until they give up U.S. citizenship, become a permanent resident of a foreign country, or establish a domicile in another state.
• Military transfers. Being transferred into Nebraska under military orders does not, by itself, make a service member a Nebraska resident.
• Credit for tax paid elsewhere. A resident who also pays income tax to another state on the same income may be able to claim Nebraska's credit for tax paid to another state.

Common misconceptions

• "Nebraska has a 183-day rule." The statute says more than six months; 183 days is the Department of Revenue's reading of it, with any part of a day counted as a day.
• "A room doesn't count as an abode." The regulation expressly includes a room or other accommodation suitable for human occupation, used or not.
• "Under six months means I'm safe." Not if Nebraska is your domicile.
• "Statutory residency is all-or-nothing for the year." The regulation ties it to the dates the abode was established and abandoned.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Nebraska Legislature — Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2714.01 (definitions; (7) resident individual)
• Nebraska Department of Revenue — Regulations, Chapter 22 (Individual Income Tax), Reg-22-001
• Nebraska Department of Revenue — Determining Residency Status for Nebraska Individual Income Tax Filing (Information Guide 8-645)