Where do you live?
Sounds like a simple question, doesn’t it? Not a simple question for fulltimers. Most of us reply with, “In my coach”. Not the usual answer people are looking for.
I remember the first time I moved from a 3000 square foot house with a three car garage, a seperate RV garage, a pond with a dozen ducks, left all that to move onto a boat on the Columbia River. Talk about getting rid of a few things. I had multiple furnishing for so many unused rooms of my house. It was difficult at first to let go. I have never looked back!
There is a few things to consider when going full time RV’ing. One of the first things to consider is what to do with the house and all the “Stuff” in it. Allot of fulltimers start out slow. Maybe rent out the home, put all the stuff in storage. After a few wonderful trips around, the house and stuff become less and less important. There is a life out there without being tied down to all the responsibilities of taking care of “stuff”.
Most RV’ers over time lighten the load by unloading the house and after a while getting rid of the storage unit full of stuff that they haven’t needed or even seen in years. Now comes the tax game. You with out a house now become a round peg in a square hole. The US requires each of us to pick a “Resident State”. With driving around the country and sometimes spending no more then a few weeks in each state, how do you do that? At this point you can pick according to what state best fits your needs. There is allot to consider in picking a state. Each State raises revenue in taxes: ie: Sales Tax, Excise tax, License Tax, Income Tax, Property, Estate, Inheritance and intangible Taxes.
hiting the road
You may read that last line and say, “Yeah, I know that.” But do you know depending on which state you choose as a resident state, you could end up paying only some of these taxes, or all of them. Some states you can save thousands of dollars per years. It all depends on your situation, your income level, vehicles, and inheritance must be considered also. Some states you can save even more by forming a corporation. There is one great web site I would like to share with you that has condensed allot of information fulltimers and RV’ers alike. Please check out: Retirement Living. They have a great section on “Taxes by State”. From there you can form a informed decision about where you want to land as a “resident state”. I know many fulltimers and it seems that South Dakota, Montana and Texas are the most popular states to call “Residence”. Most of them don’t live there, some haven’t been back to their state in years, but they must fit in that square hole.
Of course before choosing a state, as your “resident state” you should consult a tax attorney to make sure that your choices don’t violate any state or federal laws.
There is also many businesses available to handle the dreaded US Mail issues, but that is a whole other post, check back soon for ideas on dealing with that or if you have some great insights, we would love to hear from you in the comment section to share with everyone.
