Pied-à-terre owners’ days get numbered

Homeowners who consider their city apartments to be pieds-à-terre are going to have to prove their part-time status on their tax forms this year or else face city income taxes just like their full-time neighbors. According to the New York Times, the state tax department is adding a line to 2010 tax forms that requires residents who own more than one home to list how many days they spent in New York City. The rule has long been that any person who spends more than half the year in the city is taxed as a resident, and the state has long been auditing questionable residency claims, but this is the first time the state is asking for an exact count up front. Anyone whose count is close to 183 will be flagged for a possible audit. So how do you know how many days you’ve spent in the city? There’s an app for that — or there will be, soon. Tax attorney Timothy Noonan is currently developing an iPhone app for his clients to track the number of days they spent in New York using GPS technology. [NYT]