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Can Married Couples Have 2 Primary Residences?
This might be a Utah/Nevada specific question, but if you have experience with this I'd love to hear it!
My husband and I own a home in Nevada and would like to buy a second home in Utah, three hours away, to rent to college students.
Is it legal for me to move to Utah and declare the UT property as my primary residence to have a 3% down payment? My husband would keep his primary residence in Nevada. There are two units in the NV home so I would live in one and rent out the other. Then in a year I would move back to Nevada or to another multi unit home in Utah.
I do not have a significant income but his income would easily cover both mortgages. Both of our names are on our current mortgage.
My husband wants to keep his Nevada state residency to file income tax there (NV doesn't have state income tax) but we would like to file jointly for federal income taxes.
On the Utah State tax website it says:
"A married couple who files a joint federal return may file separate Utah returns ONLY IF:
one spouse is a full-year Utah resident, AND
the other spouse is a full-year nonresident."
https://incometax.utah.gov/instructions/married-couples
We would spend roughly half the year in each location, my husband will spend more time in NV running his business and I will spend more time in UT setting up the basement rental but the majority of our time will hopefully be together. I will also get a UT drivers license, register to vote, and make community connections, but I will be traveling to NV for prenatal appointments and giving birth in NV.
Has anyone done this? Is this legal? Are these huge red flags for the state tax commissions and the IRS?
If you don't know the answer but know who we should ask (CPA? Lawyer?) that would also be helpful!