How does moving from Ohio to Florida change my taxes, and how does Ohio decide I have left?

For 2025, Ohio taxes nothing on the first $26,050 of taxable income, 2.75 percent from there to $100,000, and 3.125 percent above $100,000. The state budget law, House Bill 96, makes it a flat 2.75 percent on all income over $26,050 for 2026, according to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.

The Ohio Department of Taxation says that, generally, retirement income included in federal adjusted gross income is subject to Ohio income tax. Social Security is deducted, as is certain railroad and military retirement pay. Two credits apply only when modified adjusted gross income less exemptions is under $100,000: the retirement income credit is at most $200 a return, and the senior citizen credit for people 65 and older is $50 a return. Citing federal law, 4 U.S.C. 114, the department also states that a state can only tax the retirement income of a resident taxpayer, and that an Ohio resident's retirement income is taxed in Ohio even if the person once lived or worked in another state.

School district income tax is paid only by residents of a district that levies it. In a traditional-base district it reaches retirement income; in an earned-income district it covers only wages and self-employment income; neither base taxes Social Security. In the year you move, you owe it only on income received while you lived in the district. If you do not know the exact amounts, you may divide the income by 12 and multiply by the months you lived there, or divide by 365 and multiply by the days.

A contact period counts when you are away overnight from your home outside Ohio and spend any part of two days in a row in Ohio. You claim the presumption by filing Form IT 10 by October 15 after the year ends, or by checking the Ohio Nonresident Statement box on the IT 1040; the separate Form IT NRS was discontinued for 2025. Once properly claimed, the department says you are irrebuttably presumed a nonresident for that year only. Without it, you need documents showing it is more likely than not that you were a nonresident, or clear and convincing documents if you had 213 or more contact periods. A part-year resident may claim the nonresident credit for the part of the year after the move.

Interstate 75 runs through Dayton, and the Federal Highway Administration lists it as running from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to Miami.

The Ohio Department of Taxation answers at 1-800-282-1780. Florida's own steps for a driver license, registration and a legal home are in the answers linked below.

Where to go from here.