What if their house straddles the border, and they work from home? Are they not allowed to have their computer in one side of the house? Who monitors this?
Technically they would probably have to be dual citizens, or a citizen of one country and permanent resident of the other, to not break laws. And then they'd have to file taxes in both countries.
No idea if it's enforced, but if it were, it would probably be such a pain that people would just stop buying/building houses that straddle the border. Why complicate things unnecessarily with a house split between two countries when you can just buy a house that is (like most houses) entirely in one country?
Not at all true, it sounds like you're just guessing about what how you think things should work?
> And then they'd have to file taxes in both countries.
Not at all true again, regardless of where your house is, even if you're a dual citizen. The US is the only country that claims to be able to tax the earnings of its citizens outside of its borders.
There was a building in the outer Washington, DC, suburbs that straddled a county line. Somehow or another its status became subject to a vote twenty-five or thirty years ago--though the electorate eligible to vote on this must have been tiny.
And I did once meet a programmer who lived or had live in a house straddling the New York/New Jersey line NW of New York City. I didn't ask about the tax status.
> James Tanner, the Gaston County tax director, said the state will have to refer to old laws regarding residency for houses the border now divides.
> "What is going to be that main decision is they go back to the old voter guidelines or rules," Tanner said. "And that's where the head of household lays down to sleep. So basically where the master bedroom is located in that property, whichever side that's on is going be dependent on where the residence is."
> The border legislation passed in both states said that residents who moved from North Carolina to South Carolina will remain eligible for North Carolina in-state tuition for 10 years after the change, provided that they remain on the same property that was formerly in North Carolina. Residents whose homes moved from South Carolina to North Carolina are eligible for South Carolina in-state tuition for two years after the change.
> ...
> Dee and Glenn Martin, age 88 and 90, live just a few houses away from the Ingold family, and their property was moved entirely from South Carolina to North Carolina. Glenn has a number of significant health issues, including pulmonary fibrosis. He spends most days at home, seated in his favorite armchair and attached to a tank of oxygen while Dee serves as his primary caretaker.
> Under South Carolina's healthcare provisions, he was allowed at-home visits from a primary care physician. Although the Martins have found a North Carolina doctor to serve as Glenn's primary care physician, they remain unsure what kind of access they will have to at-home care.
> People like Kemp need to take some time to describe precisely where they live. He walks in his front door in Rhode Island, but his kitchen is in Connecticut. He votes in Rhode Island, which is also where his car is registered, but he sleeps in Connecticut.
> Of course, he pays taxes to both towns.
> ...
> Several people approached for this story living on the border said they’d rather not be quoted in an article about how they were following the requirements because, generally speaking, they were not.
> ...
> Even before COVID, there were complications on state borders. What school do your kids go to? What cable service do you get? To whom do you pay taxes, and in what amount? Who plows your road? When you need to get your property fixed, do you need a contractor licensed in both states?
> For Father D. Timothy O’Mara, pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Blackstone, Massachusetts, and also North Smithfield, Rhode Island, there are also advantages: Because the border between Massachusetts and Rhode Island cuts right through church property, he can offer weddings in either state.
> “We definitely straddle the line,” O’Mara said.
> He’s never had to do that, but according to church folklore, it’s happened before. A couple arrived on their wedding day with a marriage license issued in Rhode Island. But the church is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester. The astute priest took them to the back of the church, the part of it that is in Rhode Island, where they did the civil part of the ceremony, before heading back to Massachusetts for the ceremony and nuptial Mass.
> “Thus was the legality of the marriage ensured,” the church’s official history proclaims.
Are there two separate parcel IDs? One for each authority in the respective state? Do you pay property tax on the full acreage to each state or only on the partial acreage in each state?