West Virginia — Tax Residency Rule

Summary

Day threshold

More than 183 days

Window

Calendar year

Also requires

A permanent place of abode in WV

Effect

Worldwide income taxed

Authority

West Virginia Tax Division

West Virginia treats you as a statutory resident for income tax if both things are true in the same calendar year: you spend more than 183 days in the state and you maintain a permanent place of abode there. Meet both and you are taxed on your worldwide income for that year. To stay outside this rule, keep your days at 183 or fewer, or avoid keeping a permanent home in the state — but note that a separate domicile test can make you a resident regardless of days.

Who it applies to

This matters most if you are:

• Someone who keeps a home in West Virginia while living or working mostly in another state or country.
• A remote worker or frequent traveler spending long stretches in West Virginia across the year.
• Someone moving into or out of West Virginia mid-year, where days and abode overlap for part of the year.
• An owner of a second home or vacation property in the state who visits often.

It applies to individuals regardless of where you are from — statutory residency here is about physical presence and available housing, not citizenship or where you were born.

The rule — and why it exists

West Virginia defines residency for income tax through two independent routes:

• Statutory residency. Spend more than 183 days in the state in a calendar year while keeping a permanent place of abode there, and you are a resident for that year — no matter where your true home is.
• Domicile. If West Virginia is your domicile — your true, fixed, permanent home, the place you intend to return to — you are a resident regardless of how many days you actually spend in the state.

Why it exists: states use physical presence plus a permanent home as a practical proxy for where a person's economic life really sits. The two-part statutory test stops someone from avoiding residency by simply counting days while still keeping a full-time base in the state, and the domicile route catches those whose real home is West Virginia even when they travel a lot.

Counting the days

1. 1Count each day, or part of a day, you are physically present in West Virginia during the calendar year (1 January to 31 December).
2. 2Any part of a day generally counts as a full day, unless you are only passing through the state in transit.
3. 3The count resets to zero at the start of each new calendar year — it is a fresh annual tally, not a rolling window.
4. 4You cross into statutory residency once you exceed 183 days while also holding a permanent place of abode in the state that year.

Because the window is the calendar year, a single long stay split across a year-end can leave you under the threshold in each individual year even though the trip itself runs longer than 183 days.

Examples

Example 1 — resident by days and abode

You rent a year-round apartment in Charleston and spend about 220 days in West Virginia over the calendar year. You exceed 183 days and hold a permanent place of abode, so you are a statutory resident and West Virginia taxes your worldwide income for that year.

Example 2 — over 183 days but no permanent home

You spend 200 days in the state but stay only in short-term hotels and never keep a dwelling suited to year-round living. Without a permanent place of abode, the statutory-residency rule is not met on days alone.

Example 3 — a stay across year-end

You keep a home in the state and stay from 1 October through 30 April — a continuous seven-month trip. Because the count is per calendar year, you may fall under 183 days in each year individually, keeping you outside statutory residency in both, even though the trip itself is longer.

Exceptions & edge cases

• Domicile overrides the count. If West Virginia is your domicile, you are taxed as a resident even with far fewer than 183 days — the day count only matters for the statutory route.
• The abode must suit year-round living. A place you keep only briefly, or a property not fit for permanent living, generally does not count as a permanent place of abode.
• Transit days. Time spent merely passing through the state in transit generally does not count toward the 183-day tally.
• Part-year situations. Moving into or out of West Virginia during the year can create a part-year residency, splitting the tax year between resident and nonresident periods.

Common misconceptions

• "Under 183 days means I'm safe." Not always — if West Virginia is your domicile, you can be taxed as a resident with any number of days.
• "Only West Virginia income is taxed." A resident is taxed on worldwide income for the year, not just income sourced in the state.
• "The day count alone makes me a resident." Statutory residency also requires a permanent place of abode in the state during the same year.
• "It's a rolling 12-month window." The count runs by calendar year and resets every 1 January.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• West Virginia Tax Division — Personal Income Tax
• WV Code — Chapter 11, Article 21 (Personal Income Tax)