Georgia's 183-Day Tax Residency Rule (the US State)
Georgia the US state treats you as a resident if you reside there for 183 days or more in the 365 days ending 31 December, even if your permanent home is elsewhere. Here is exactly how the count works.
Last verified: August 2026
This article is about Georgia, the US state. Looking for the country of Georgia in the Caucasus? See Georgia's 183-Day Tax Residency Rule (the country) instead.
In short: Georgia (the US state) treats you as a resident individual if you reside in the state for 183 days or more, counted in the aggregate, during the immediately preceding 365 days, measured on income tax day. For calendar-year filers that is 31 December, so the count covers the year and starts again each January: days late in one year and early in the next do not combine. You are also a resident if you are a legal resident of Georgia on the last day of the year or reside there on a regular basis.
- Threshold
- 183 days or more
- Counting window
- 365 days ending 31 December
- Days counted
- In the aggregate, not consecutive
- Home in state required
- No, presence alone
- Applies even if
- Domiciled elsewhere
- Legal basis
- O.C.G.A. §48-7-1(10)
The rule
Georgia defines a resident individual in three alternative ways. Meeting any one of them makes you a resident for state income tax:
- Legal resident on the last day of the year. You are a legal resident of Georgia on income tax day, which is 31 December for calendar-year filers, or the last day of your fiscal year.
- 183 days in the 365 days to income tax day. You resided in Georgia for 183 days or part-days, in the aggregate, during the 365 days immediately preceding income tax day. This is the day-count route. Because income tax day is 31 December for calendar-year filers, its window is the 365 days ending 31 December, not a rolling 12 months.
- Regular basis. You reside in Georgia on a regular, not temporary or transitory, basis.
The day-count route is the one travelers most often trip over, because presence alone is enough: 183 days in Georgia can make you a resident individual, taxed on your income, even if you are domiciled in another state. A fiscal-year filer measures the same 365 days back from the last day of the fiscal year instead.
How to count it
- Take income tax day: 31 December, or the last day of your fiscal year if you file on one.
- Count every day, and every part-day, on which you resided in Georgia in the 365 days ending on that date. In a leap year, that period starts on 2 January.
- Add them in the aggregate. Days do not need to be consecutive.
- If the total reaches 183 or more, you are a resident individual for that year under the day-count test.
Example. You are domiciled in Florida but spend long stretches in Atlanta. From July through December you are in Georgia on 100 days, then from January through June of the next year you are there on another 90 days.
The day count looks at each 365-day period ending 31 December: 100 days in the first year, 90 in the second. Neither reaches 183, so the day-count test is not met in either year, even though the two stays add up to 190 days within 12 consecutive months. The other two routes can still apply if you are a legal resident of Georgia or reside there on a regular basis.
Beyond the day count
The 183-day test is only one of the three routes to residency, and it interacts with the others. If you are a legal resident of Georgia or reside there on a regular basis, you can be taxed as a resident without ever counting to 183. Georgia also treats a 183-day taxable resident differently from a part-year resident when it comes to prorating income, so which route applies affects how much of your income Georgia taxes. Once you are a resident under the legal-residence or regular-basis routes, Georgia also treats you as continuing to be one until you show that you have become a legal resident of another state and do not meet the 183-day test.
AtlasDays tracks Georgia's 183-day rule automatically
Log your trips once. AtlasDays counts your days in Georgia in each 365-day period ending 31 December, privately on your iPhone, and warns you before you reach 183 days.
Get the appFAQ
How many days can you spend in Georgia without becoming a resident?
Fewer than 183 in the 365 days ending 31 December, or ending on your fiscal year-end if you file on a fiscal year. Once you have resided in Georgia for 183 days or more in the aggregate over that period, the day-count test makes you a resident individual.
Is Georgia's rule based on a calendar year?
Effectively, yes. The law looks back over the 365 days immediately preceding income tax day, which is 31 December for calendar-year filers, so the count covers the year and starts again each January. In a leap year, the period runs from 2 January.
Do you need a home in Georgia to be caught by the rule?
No. Unlike states that require a permanent place of abode, Georgia's 183-day test turns on physical presence alone.
About this article: AtlasDays provides general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Rules change and outcomes depend on your circumstances, so never rely on it alone: check the linked official source or ask a qualified professional.