Sales Tax in South Dakota

Thanks for all the info, very interesting. Since I am a Florida resident already it may pay for me to stay a Florida resident. I will not have that first time license fee and my tag will be $60. My insurance covers windshield and and is less expensive than SD. Notice I did not say cheap. The additional 3% in sales tax upfront may be eaten up in additional licensing fees and increased insurance costs. Again thanks for all the info.

Sales tax:
3% of the difference between new vehicle price and trade in value

Tags:
'06 Beaver Patriot Thunder, 43,000 lbs = $632.00 for 2014
'12 Subaru Forrester = $62.00 for 2014

Look closely at insurance costs, also. My Comprehensive, which does NOT include glass, was more than my collision. Then I had to add the cost of glass coverage on top of that. I think that's pretty unusual in most states.

The agent couldn't tell me how the price was figured. Says the underwriter does that. I suspect it could have something to do with hail and tornadoes.

When we moved to SD in 2005 we paid about $180 total for our 35 foot 2004 motor home and 1999 Honda registration/plates. There have been some increases and the total is now about $250.

Now we have a differing opinion about FL. Their "first" time fee to register vehicles there will pay for our motorhome licensing for several years. If we changed our domicile to FL, the first time feel for our 2000 motorhome and our 1995 Jeep would be $750 - $850 and then the registration/license fees on top of that. We currently pay $180 in our home state per year, and our insurance is cheaper. Check it all out before you decide. The information on the first time fee moving into FL was not readily apparent on the DMV website, I just stumbled across the information in searches I did.

Teacher's Pet wrote:

Charlie+Em wrote:
How often do you have to register your plates? Is that $400 a year or multiple years?

That is for this year, expiring in August, for one year only.

We pay about $500 a years for the MH and Ranger. Considering there are no additional fees throughout the year it’s not bad. Some states that have $40 tags charge hundreds for property tax.

Charlie+Em wrote:
How often do you have to register your plates? Is that $400 a year or multiple years?

That is for this year, expiring in August, for one year only.

How often do you have to register your plates? Is that $400 a year or multiple years?

We paid the 3% excise tax in December '05 on the difference between our trade and our '06 Phaeton. This year our 8 year old 40QSH DP license plates were $438, which is more than when it was 1st licensed, new in '05.

You only pay 3% on the difference between the 2 vehicle purchase price if you trade vehicles. This is a substantial difference that how other States handle sales tax. The license and registration fees and the insurance rates are substantially higher than FL (or previous State of record) and need to be factored in. If you have no plans to buy a new coach I would not recommend moving as you will get screwed like we did. I needed a residence address and did not know that I could have done the same thing in FL that I did in SD. My FL tags cost less than $100 and my SD tags were close to $600. I have to buy a new RV soon to make it all worthwhile.
The mail forwarding services will not give you the "true" costs of moving your residency to SD. The only good that came from this is jury duty. I got in a bit of trouble (resolved) when I missed jury duty (while in CA) but SD makes it pretty easy to deal with.
If I knew then what I know today, I would have my vehicles registered in FL.

You may have to do like we did when I purchased our coach. We were living in California, but had transferred our residency to SD and bought the coach in Arizona. We had to take possession of the coach in New Mexico or we would have had to pay sales tax in Arizona. The dealer had a driver take it to NM and I took possession of it there and drove it home. I had a notarized document filled out so there would be no doubt where I assumed possession. If you're buying from a dealer, find out how far he will go to make the sale happen. Most dealers simply will charge you sales tax from the state you're purchasing the coach in and then let you work it out between the two states.....Dennis