West Virginia — Tax Residency Rule

Summary

Day threshold

More than 183 days

Window

Taxable year (calendar year for most)

Also requires

A permanent place of abode in WV

Part days

Any part of a day counts, except transit

Excluded

Members of the US armed forces

Basis

WV Code § 11-21-7; 110 CSR 21-7

If you are domiciled outside West Virginia, you are a West Virginia statutory resident when you maintain a permanent place of abode there and spend more than 183 days of the taxable year in the state, counting any part of a day. Meet both and West Virginia taxes all your income for the year. Keep your days at 183 or fewer, or keep no permanent abode, and this test does not apply — but a West Virginia domiciliary is a resident unless they meet a narrow 30-day exception.

Who it applies to

This matters most if you are:

• A Virginia, Maryland, Ohio or Pennsylvania domiciliary who keeps a home in West Virginia.
• Someone transferred to a West Virginia office, where the length of the assignment decides whether the apartment counts.
• A West Virginian living elsewhere who still has a house in the state.

Domicile does not depend on citizenship: an immigrant who has made a permanent home in West Virginia is domiciled there whether or not they have become a US citizen.

The rule — and why it exists

WV Code § 11-21-7 defines a resident individual as someone:

• Domiciled in West Virginia — unless they maintain no permanent place of abode in the state, maintain one elsewhere, and spend in the aggregate not more than 30 days of the taxable year in West Virginia.
• Or not domiciled there, but maintaining a permanent place of abode in West Virginia and spending in the aggregate more than 183 days of the taxable year in the state. The regulation excludes members of the US armed forces from this limb.

The regulation adds that a domiciliary who keeps a permanent place of abode in West Virginia is a resident even if they spend the entire year outside the state, because the 183-day rule applies only to people not domiciled there.

Why it exists: a home in the state plus most of the year there is treated as living in West Virginia, whatever your domicile. The 30-day exception lets a domiciliary who has genuinely moved their home elsewhere stop being taxed as a resident.

Counting the days

1. 1Count each calendar day on which you are in West Virginia for any part of the day.
2. 2Leave out presence solely to board a plane, train or bus to a destination outside the state, and travel through West Virginia by car, plane or train.
3. 3Add the days across the taxable year; the count restarts each year.
4. 4More than 183 days (184 or more) plus a permanent place of abode makes a non-domiciliary a resident.

A non-domiciliary who keeps a West Virginia abode and claims to be a nonresident must keep records adequate to show they did not spend more than 183 days in the state.

Examples

Example 1 — resident by days and abode

You are domiciled in Ohio but rent a year-round apartment in Charleston and are in West Virginia on about 220 days. You exceed 183 days and maintain a permanent place of abode, so West Virginia taxes all your income for that year.

Example 2 — a fixed-term assignment

Your North Carolina employer sends you to its Morgantown office for a fixed ten-month project, after which you return home; you rent an apartment there and spend 250 days in the state. Under the regulation, an abode kept only for a fixed and limited assignment is not permanent, so you are a nonresident — taxed only on your West Virginia pay. Had the transfer been open-ended, the apartment would count and you would be a resident.

Example 3 — a stay across year-end

You keep a home in the state and stay from 1 October through 30 April — 212 continuous days. Counted per taxable year, that is 92 days in the first year and 120 (121 in a leap year) in the second, so neither year exceeds 183.

Exceptions & edge cases

• The 30-day domiciliary exception. All three conditions must hold for the year: no permanent place of abode in West Virginia, one elsewhere, and no more than 30 days in the state. The burden of showing this is on the taxpayer.
• Vacation property. A mere camp or cottage that is suitable and used only for vacations is not a permanent place of abode.
• Temporary stays. A dwelling kept only for a temporary stay for a particular purpose — such as a fixed-term work assignment — is not permanent.
• Your spouse's home. A dwelling owned or leased by your spouse generally counts as your permanent place of abode.
• Part-year situations. Moving into or out of West Virginia during the year can create a part-year residency, splitting the year between resident and nonresident periods.

Common misconceptions

• "Under 183 days means I'm safe." Not if West Virginia is your domicile — and a domiciliary who keeps a home there is a resident even with zero days in the state.
• "Any apartment I rent there counts." Not if it is kept only for a fixed, limited assignment.
• "The day count alone makes me a resident." Statutory residency also requires a permanent place of abode in the state.
• "It's a rolling 12-month window." The count runs by taxable year and resets each year.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• WV Code § 11-21-7 — Resident and nonresident defined (official WV Legislature text, Wayback Machine capture of 2 October 2025; the live code site no longer serves it)
• WV Secretary of State — Code of State Rules 110 CSR 21 (§ 110-21-7, resident and nonresident defined: day counting, permanent place of abode)
• West Virginia Tax Division — Individual income tax FAQ (residents report all income)