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4advtr's avatar
4advtr
Explorer
May 03, 2013

Another question on residency

I know there are many, many threads on this. Also after scouring the internet for a few hours I thought it might be easiest to just pull from the vast amount of knowledge here on the board.

Our house is officially for sell and we'll be full-timing before we know it. We currently reside in OR and pay quite a bit with our state income tax, but pay no sales tax. Right now we'd prefer SD or TX as we'll likely never make it over the FL. Here's the basics and my concerns with regards to which state to claim residency.

A little about us, we're 40 years old and I will continue my current job while on the road as I can work from anywhere. So I'll have a decent income for the duration of our full-timing which we're initially planning on doing for about 12-18 months. We'll determine whether or not to continue once we get closer to next summer. If we don't continue we'll likely end up buying a house in Phoenix. Probably plan on spending next winter down there in one of the big RV resorts.

1) We'll be buying a new 2013 F-150 or F-350 very soon. In OR no sales tax on this vehicle, only registration fees which won't be more than a few hundred dollars. I'm concerned that with South Dakota if we transfer the registration over there in a few months we'll owe 3% of our purchase price towards their state Excise Tax on vehicle purchases/transfers. This is waived if you've already paid an amount equal to or greater than that, which we won't. I think Texas is just a $90 fee for this.

2) Are there any problems with owning property in one state for which your not a resident and claiming residence elsewhere? We're probably going to buy a lot in OK near my wifes family and build it out to house our RV for a few months a year. I don't want to have to claim residency in OK due to this.

3)Regarding the IRS and/or state income tax concers, do they really only care about where you have your mailing address, etc? Also we'd get a local Drivers License and register our vehicles of course. Just seems a little to simple so I don't want to miss anything.

4) If we were to upgrade to a bigger RV down the road I would prefer not to pay thousands in sales tax if possible. This might not be avoidable and is definitely a major plus to living in OR currently. However the state income taxes easily offset any amount I can spend in a year and pay taxes on.

5) Lastly, I'd prefer a state that won't cause me to pay sales tax on Internet purchases. We buy just about everything from Amazon.com and would hate to have to start paying sales tax while on the road due to our choice of residency.

Sorry I have so many questions but I want to be as thorough as possible. I'll likely chat up our accountant as well although I'm guessing he may not have a lot of experience with this firsthand.

Also my company is physically based out of FL, so no real effect on insurance rates so I think we're good there.
  • We own property in VA and PA but are residents of MD. You have to pay property tax to the other states but not income tax.

    If you change state make sure you file new state withholding forms after you establish residency. Different states have different requirements for residency. SD are easy to meet, Alaska's are more difficult. The rest of the states fall somewhere in between.
  • Earl E wrote:
    You may have to break down your questions in several threads. You may get a better response that way. In general, you have to decide where you are going to reside. Period. You can't bounce around to try to avoid taxes. That is the way you will be caught. If you buy in OR and move to SD, you will pay the 3% on your rig. No getting around it. You can own property anywhere but if it produces income you will have to pay taxes to that state. Most states have legal requirements for how long you can reside in the state before you are a resident. For instance, if you buy and live in OK six months, you could be considered an OK resident and you will have to pay taxes accordingly. Don't know if that's true but it is in AZ.

    My opinion: if you only plan to be full-time for a year or so it is going to be easier and just as cheep to stay OR residents. Changing is very involved and you will be off the road before it is all done. That's what I found out. We were OR residents and just decided it was easier to stay there until we got off the road and then became AZ residents. If you sell your house get the DMV "Permanent Travelers" designation, then you can use a mail forwarding place as your domicile. We used Mailforwarding.com in Jefferson. They were very helpful.


    This might be the best option ultimately. As for work, I'm just an employee for a national company based out of Florida.
  • You may have to break down your questions in several threads. You may get a better response that way. In general, you have to decide where you are going to reside. Period. You can't bounce around to try to avoid taxes. That is the way you will be caught. If you buy in OR and move to SD, you will pay the 3% on your rig. No getting around it. You can own property anywhere but if it produces income you will have to pay taxes to that state. Most states have legal requirements for how long you can reside in the state before you are a resident. For instance, if you buy and live in OK six months, you could be considered an OK resident and you will have to pay taxes accordingly. Don't know if that's true but it is in AZ.

    My opinion: if you only plan to be full-time for a year or so it is going to be easier and just as cheep to stay OR residents. Changing is very involved and you will be off the road before it is all done. That's what I found out. We were OR residents and just decided it was easier to stay there until we got off the road and then became AZ residents. If you sell your house get the DMV "Permanent Travelers" designation, then you can use a mail forwarding place as your domicile. We used Mailforwarding.com in Jefferson. They were very helpful.
  • IF your company is based in Florida (are you owner, or employee?) You can buy or register your RV and vehicles in Florida as company assets. You can then deduct if you travel and work.

    This is a pretty complex situation tho, and although the guys on here know a lot, and can advise well, but this is a work and residency issue. It might benefit you to hire a business attorney for an hour consult (or two), lay out your plan, and get answers legally that will probably save you a lot more than the consult.