Some Iowa MH owners facing big tax problems.

How is it "cheating" if you:
1. KNOW the applicable law
2. COMPLY with the law exactly as it is written
and
3. DOCUMENT your compliance with the law.

Working within the law is NOT "cheating"!

The Iowa law is very clear: If you have not paid the sales tax on your vehicle, and it is registered in another state, do NOT bring it to Iowa for more than 90 days!
One MUST obey the law. It is just that simple. Those who don't, have trouble.

I find it funny that people who cheat on their taxes or steal other ways can always come up with justification for being a crook.

Maybe westernrvparkowner is correct. Everyone that owns a RV should have a LLC in Mont. Our home states don't need the money. They just squander it anyway. The Legislators in Mont. can spend the money much better than our home states. Just think how great it would be if everyone had a LLC. You could put your auto's and home in it to avoid taxes. The LLC could purchase your groceries and even your fuel. Maybe we could become taxfree. :S

mowermech wrote:
I wish I was wealthy.
I would register my motorhome with a MONTANA LLC, then drive it to Iowa.
Just think of the fun I could have!
I wonder how long it would take the LEOs in IOWA to spread the word to leave that coach alone, the driver is really a Montanan?
.

that is the problem with westernRVparkowner's position on this. in our 'bad" example the owner driver is an Iowa resident, has an Iowa driver's license, etc. If he gets off after hiring his expensive lawyer, he will face the wrath of the govt. for the rest of the time he resides in Iowa.
bumpy

Many of you are fixated on Police Officers and it isn’t them.

They are not the ones that are pursuing this, it is the Dept. or Revenue, for the State of Iowa. It is essentially the IRS of Iowa. They operate under wholly different rules than “probable cause.” Basically, if you have a Motorhome, $75k SUV sitting beside your garage or in your driveway, continuously, they will be interested in you. They won’t waste time with those that are working within the law. There are enough idiots that park their $$$ MH beside the garage, thumbing their noses at their neighbors and employees of the company that they own. The DOR will pursue you. The will send you a letter and command you to appear, with the proper paperwork. If you don’t, there are various remedies at their disposal. States typically will move twice as fast, when is it DOR issues, than the Federal Government’s IRS. Basically with DOR, you are guilty until YOU prove yourself innocent.

As for Probable Cause, I can only speak for Colorado, but many LEOs don’t enforce registration or miss use of plates, feeling it is the State Patrol’s job. Many have felt the heavy hand when parking their vehicles in Denver and the parking patrol finally nails you for parking at the curb with out of state plates, too many time. Their fancy hand held devices record vehicles that are known to the state. There isn’t a person driving that I couldn’t determine a probable cause within a few hundred feet. I was brought into an evidentiary hearing on an arrest where I had pulled in behind someone, after midnight, stopped at a Traffic Signal and when it turned green, he immediately pulled to the curb and stopped. He testified that he saw my patrol car and was scared and pulled over and parked. He was not intoxicated, just had some felony warrants and was going down for Habitual. My notes, brief as they were, showed these facts; He changed directions without signaling, didn’t signal for 150Ft before making the change, parked within 15’ of a private driveway, not his own and his tire/s were more than 12” from the curb. The reality was, he was scared and figured if he wasn’t driving I couldn’t pull him over without probable cause. To bad for him I was curious.

Also, my memory is the US Attorney General brought Oregon up on Federal Charges for their collusion, along with the State of Georgia. So yes, there was a good thing that Oregon did, but I think they were pushed’. Many states care only for the revenue. Many years ago, it was not unusual for me to pull someone over in Colorado and be presented with a Driver’s License from Arizona, completely legit. The issue was, Arizona recorded out of state addresses on Arizona Driver’s Licenses. They saw revenue from those that traveled to Arizona for winter months and like many states of the Southwest. Now we have a national driver’s license data base and that occurrence no longer occurs.

Register your expensive motor vehicles, SUVs, MH, Boats and Sports Cars legally and you will not have any problems. Just don’t drive down the road with a Denver Car Dealer sticker on the back of your car with out of state plates and not expect an officer to be curious when he pulls you over.

b

I wish I was wealthy.
I would register my motorhome with a MONTANA LLC, then drive it to Iowa.
Just think of the fun I could have!
I wonder how long it would take the LEOs in IOWA to spread the word to leave that coach alone, the driver is really a Montanan?

As I have said repeatedly, KNOW the applicable laws in your home state.
COMPLY with the laws.
DOCUMENT your compliance.
and you will have no problems.

peaches&cream wrote:
All they have to say is someone called in a "complaint" about the Mont. tag and they want to prove there is no violation. You can bet there will be many "complaints" called in now that it is public. If I had Mont. plates, even if I was legal, I would be looking to get stopped and checked when traveling through Iowa.

And I would bet the owner of that million dollar Prevost has access to a pretty good attorney who would ask for the proof of that complaint and be requesting the documentation that led to probable cause. Even if someone calls in a complaint, that doesn't give the police carte blanche to start digging into people's affairs. I am also not sure that using the police for tax enforcement is going to go over very well with either the police or the citizens in general. Taxes are generally not a police matter.

Francesca Knowles wrote:
I don't understand why the various States don't go after Montana for allowing and even encouraging what amounts to a tax evasion scheme, and one based on fraud at that. Seems like it would be a popular local issue in the affected States, since let's face it: every time one of those so-called Montana LLC "law firms" snags another out-of-stater, taxpayers in the evader's home state has to pick up the slack for the scofflaw.

One would think that if enough Attorneys General got together and appealed to the Feds, some sort of RICO case could be put together.

Let's try to keep the feds out of state business. They butt in to much as it is.

All they have to say is someone called in a "complaint" about the Mont. tag and they want to prove there is no violation. You can bet there will be many "complaints" called in now that it is public. If I had Mont. plates, even if I was legal, I would be looking to get stopped and checked when traveling through Iowa.

Bumpyroad wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Is having an out of state license plate legal grounds for an officer to ask for your registration documents and gather information as to the ownership of a vehicle? I would say there might be a problem with probable cause. They say they are going to be going to patrol Iowa football games and the like. How are they going to determine if the owner of that RV registered in Montana lives in Iowa, or Michigan , or New Jersy, or heaven forbid, actually Montana. If they run the license plate and it is registered to a Montana LLC, they will have no information as to where the members of that LLC have residence. Are they going to be knocking on doors and demanding driver's licenses and the residency documents? And what happens if you answer that knock and tell them to pound sand? You aren't driving and you aren't on a public road, what right do they have to start questioning your residency? Sounds like a lot of sabre rattling without the ability to have a true sword fight.

I think if they find an expensive motorhome with Montana plates tailgating at an Iowa football game and run the plate and find it is registered to a Montana LLC, they probably will stick around after the game and have a chat with the owner/driver.
bumpy

That may be what they plan on doing, but is it legal to target out of state license plate vehicles for extra scrutiny by law enforcement? I know it has been ruled that it is illegal to stop a vehicle on the highway for drug searches if the only probable cause is an out of state license plate. I would think the same principle would apply for questioning vehicle owners for tax evasion when the only probable cause is a Montana License Plate.