While I was in the Navy, I was transferred from California to Massachusetts. To simplify my personal admin burden, I kept my official residence as California. The upshot of that was that since I was in the military but serving outside the state, California said I owed them no income tax. Every year, Taxachusetts sent me a nasty threatening letter demanding I pay their state income tax. I simply appended a copy of my CA zero dollar tax return to a copy of their letter in my return envelope. I will admit to openly smirking while I did so. Happy days, happy days. No, I never returned to the Left Coast.
Good for you, you wised up early, there are undoubtedly tons of stories similar to yours. I know of a half dozen people who have moved from NY or who live part time in NY who have had to provide excruciating documentation that they didn’t have a physical presence in the state. Rush talks about this frequently.