License, registration, home, visiting.... oh my!

Sorry, I wasn't fully clear. The 30 days is for the vehicle licensing and registrations. However, this law may just apply to CA residents.....not really positive if it also applies to visitors.

Ron

Walaby wrote:

lanerd wrote:

I do know that California requires you to be license in California if you are there for longer than 30 consecutive days.
Ron

So does this mean I can't go visit California for more than 30 days? Somehow I can't imagine this being correct. But, if it is, yet another good reason to stay away.

Mike

My understanding: California requires registration of vehicles etc within 20 days of becoming a resident. You can be a nonresident visitor as long as it's less than 6 months.

If you have any California income (visitor or not) then it's subject to California tax. Some examples:
A workcamper who is paid.
You have accounts in California that create income.
You are a non resident but come to California to work for 3 days then those 3 days are subject to California tax while the rest of your work out of state is not subject to California tax.

All of this can get very involved but visitors should just enjoy the many aspects of California.

indiana used to have that law.that has now been changed to if you are a new resident you have 60 days to change.

Walaby wrote:

lanerd wrote:

I do know that California requires you to be license in California if you are there for longer than 30 consecutive days.
Ron

So does this mean I can't go visit California for more than 30 days? Somehow I can't imagine this being correct. But, if it is, yet another good reason to stay away.

Mike

No that is not correct

JimR

lanerd wrote:

I do know that California requires you to be license in California if you are there for longer than 30 consecutive days.
Ron

So does this mean I can't go visit California for more than 30 days? Somehow I can't imagine this being correct. But, if it is, yet another good reason to stay away.

Mike

Yeah, I knew a guy who hadn't paid Federal income tax for quite a few years. The penalties were substantial when they finally caught up with him. :)

Of course if you have enough money you can do just about anything. The guy I knew didn't, he just didn't pay.

I know a guy that hasn't paid income tax in 18 years and he and many others say he's a genius. So, if a vehicle owner can figure a way to pay less state tax...how can that be a bad thing?


Gary Haupt

lanerd wrote:
I have a friend who lives in MO and has a MO driver's license. His jeep (toad) is registered in Kansas and his motor home is registered in South Dakota and he spends about six months of the year as a camphost in California.

Question... is this all legal?

He needs to check with his state of residence (ie taxes and voting MO?) concerning registration.

Then he should check with CA as he might be considered employed in CA and that might have vehicle registration considerations.

If he were involved in a accident (especially a serious one) somewhere he might just find out what's required and that is the potential legal downside.

The short story is yes generally all your stuff should be registered in the state you claim "residency" in. (Not to be confused with your tax home which typically is the same but can be different for various reasons.)
Residency, registration, licensing or licenses though can be very subjective depending on the personal situation.
Having moved 9 times now in the last 20 years, different state each move, I can say through experience that for the most part it doesn't matter as long as everything is up to date on the tags.
Have had enough speeding tickets etc where when I get pulled over my drivers license, plates and sometimes insurance show up to 3 different addresses in 3 different states and I have not been hassled or cited for it.
You'll find some cops that want to use it as a revenue generator if they see this, but if there's a halfway plausible explanation then it shouldn't be an issue.
If you read some of the registration/ insurance requirements, they could have a person changing plates and drivers licenses at a rapid pace based on location.
IMO find something else to worry about.

To iterate, it depends on WHERE YOU ARE, not where you came from or where you are registered or licensed before you got there. If you are sitting in California for six months, what matters is California law.

Whether or not you are registered in Missouri or Kansas, whether driver's license matches vehicle registration, whether either of two vehicles matches or not, California doesn't care. California enforces California law, what Kansas or Missouri have worked out mutually, California doesn't care.

Your friend needs to understand what California wants.