Anyone using GA as a domicile or residence??

wbwood wrote:
Veterans don't pay to register their vehicles? Thast must be something within the last 15 years. We are originally from Augusta, Georgia. Lived there nearly 20 years of my life and have always had to pay to register my car and pay the advolorem taxes on it. Can't remember about the drivers license thing.

Our son joined the Navy from GA 20 years ago. He got a Free DL or 10 years or s, but couldn't get a Free Tag. It was because he didn't serve in a War Zone. They sent him to Camp David instead of Bosnia. But DH was in VietNam, so he qualified.

I think it was 2012 when they replaced the annual ad valorem with the onetime fees on vehicles. It gradually increased to what it is now. 7.??. You pay it when you buy vehicle or like us when we move into the state. It's just like the sales tax - one time and done.

And to others as for continuing to pay ad valorem forever, check with your County Tag office. They will see if you've paid in enough and take that off your vehicle for the next renewal. Then all you have is a $12+ tag fee.

Doesn't work that way on Trailers though. Not sure about Motorhomes.

Veterans don't pay to register their vehicles? Thast must be something within the last 15 years. We are originally from Augusta, Georgia. Lived there nearly 20 years of my life and have always had to pay to register my car and pay the advolorem taxes on it. Can't remember about the drivers license thing.

My mother and father still live there. My father is retired with 21 years of active duty in the air force (I had 4 years). I will ask him about it. But they are in their 70's so they get other benefits...

My wife and I were long time Georgia residents, when we went full-time we changed to Florida. That should tell you something.

bluecrabbie, you can call Paulding County and they should be able to give you tax rates for your vehicles. One of the things to remember is that the change in tax law was just in the last couple of years, so those of us that have had our vehicles registered for longer pay taxes based on the value each year, whereas newer registrations pay a higher initial rate and then the $20 fee each additional year.

I am not sure if Dallas is close enough to metro Atlanta to require the smog prevention inspection required for vehicle registration, but your son should be able to tell you that. When my DD and SIL moved to the area, her car was new enough, she didn't have to pay for inspection, but SIL had to have his truck inspected, repaired and re-inspected prior to paying registration in Cobb county (N metro Atlanta).

Thanks for all of the good info. There is a lot to think about. We are going to be storing some items at our son's house in his basement for awhile. He lives in Dallas, GA in Paulding County. Was thinking about using his place as a domicile but are now getting concerned about the personal property tax issue. We have had enough of that here in NC for the last 10 years. May go back to looking at St Brendan's Isle in Florida again.
I think regardless of where we declare a domicile, there is going to be some kind of tax issue.

We have been in Ga for 6years now.

We have never gotten away with a $20.00
tag renewal even for a 2005 CRV.

Every county has their own Ad valorem tax
that is due when tags are renewed.

The link below goes into that as well as counties with smog inspections.
http://www.dmv.org/ga-georgia/car-registration.php#Registering-a-Vehicle-in-Georgia


https://mvd.dor.ga.gov/tags/index.aspx

hart-attack... remember you don't pay but $20 a year for that truck for the rest of the time you own it...I would guess your truck has a retail value of around $44K. I bought my extended cab F150 with limited upgrades (primarily tow package and integrated trailer break) in late 2010, prior to that method of registration being set, and I pay registration based on the value of my truck..and the rate varies depending on your county (just like taxes on real property).. I am in a low rate county, originally it was close to $400, but was about $200 this year and will continue to reduce each year...

oh yeah, when I go fulltiming I will continue to use GA as my domicile. will use family farm as address... also will have a location to go to if I need to "come home" for a while, as my brother and mother each live with 50-60 miles of farm.

we just moved to Georgia this month. I was just at the vehicle registration window this morning to get my 2013 truck registered. $3100!!! i just paid MD ~2400 in tax in dec 2013. i thought getting out of Maryland would help out my pocket, so far, not so much. it may make more sense if you're retired/close to it based upon the previous posts. if you decide to head here, be prepared for a large initial expense!

does anyone have any resources to help out with doing a comparison on Georgia residency versus other states, such as South Dakota/Texas? Just wondering if you can have your 'residency' in one of those states and actually have a lease in another state. my understanding is that the law requires you to change everything over if you're in the state for >30 days.

We lived in GA before going fulltime 10 years ago in Florida. I never changed my DL, though. Long story...

Since retirement is getting closer and we have a GA RVLot, decided to have DH change back to GA last summer while we had a week off. There has never been a real income Tax advantage for us, since DH works in multiple states and we pay state taxes in all of the states where he's worked.

BUT: it was a bigger expense than we anticipated.

His truck - we had to pay the full ad valorem up front ($3000) even though we had it over 6 mos. They did require only half down and the rest over the next 12 mos. But at renewal, with free Viet Nam veteran plates, it's under $20. Now for the 5er, it's still an annual ad valorem tax ($1200) and fee. But since we're still working, it's all tax deductible. He could have gotten a Free DL, but we didn't bring the DD214 in from the truck.

Fulltime insurance went down a bit, so that's a plus. And we canceled our mail forwarder, which was getting to be quite an annual expense as shipping rates are rising. Those help offset the 5er tax.

Lovin Georgia here. Been here since I met my bride 40 years ago and raised a family.

We've lived around all the edges of GA in the Blue Ridge mountains, Atlanta, the coast and West Georgia near Pine Mountain.

We finally threw the anchor over and hooked it in West Georgia and have been here for 35 years. West Georgia's climate is a bit milder, have some nice topography here in the Piedmont, definitely have 4 seasons but summers aren't too bad and winters are mild. Cost of living here is very light. And if we want to experience some big city we're an hour from the big "A" town, 2.5 hrs to the mountains, 4.5 to the Gulf and Florida, and 4.5 hours to the ocean-- all on good roads.

This is the "Big Rock Candy Mountain".

Just plain good livin.