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Post Info TOPIC: Domicile questions


RV-Dreams Community Member

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Domicile questions


We currently live in Ms. and plan on buying soon to fulltime. I needed some input on a domicile selection. I've read about the no income tax states of Fl, Tx, and SD- So what does that exactly mean? I would not have to pay income tax if I earned money in Texas (obvious), but what happens when you leave the state and earn an income in any other states? Do you have to file a tax return in every state that you earn money or is it all declared in your Texas state/federal returns. Would a no income state be important if you really don't plan on working there much anyway.

The other question was regarding sales tax in the state where you buy your RV. I assume the sales tax is paid in the state of your purchase regardless of where your domicile is. Is that correct? Thank you for your input on this. I have a feeling this ground has been worked before, but I have read sooooo many posts and have yet to find those details. We hope to join everyone soon on the road!



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RV-Dreams Family Member

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Most/many of us with legal domiciles in one of the states you mentioned are retired and only have pension, dividends, or interest income so no state income tax is important to us.

If you are gainfully employed you have to pay the taxes due in the state you earned it in. In some cases that can mean having to file several different state tax forms

In general you pay a sales/excise tax in the state where the vehicle is registered.

Some states like CA will tax you no matter where you actually live and dealers make arrangements to have it delivered to you out of state so you don't have to pay CA tax.

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Clay (WA5NMR), Lee (wife), Katie, Kelli (cats) Full timed for eleven years in a 2004 Sightseer 35N. Snowbirds for one winter and now settled down in CO.



RV-Dreams Family Member

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This is a very complicated issue. Having lived in AZ for 6 years, I can tell you that if you try to cheat the system and get caught, it usually is more expensive than doing the right thing in the first place. There were residents there with out of states plates that tried to stay an extended amount of time over what the state allowed and it took only one call to bring the sheriff around. Getting stopped with a tag from one state and a driver's license from another can be another problem. While is it OK to get opinions online, you need to go to the websites of the states you are considering, read the information and if it isn't clear, contact them. You'll want to check insurance rates also since I have seen many people not happy with that situation lately, both vehicle and health. Although many people "work" the system, I don't recommend it as every state that I know of has become more aggressive about getting their fair share of your tax dollars. Fines can be very high. We had only one situation where we were working outside of our domicile state and had to pay the tax rate for that state and file in both states getting a credit for the taxes paid to the state we were working in for the taxes due in the domicile state. Yes, 999 people out of 1,000 might get away with it but if you are the 1.............  Yeah, my upbringing was heavy on "reaping what you sow".



-- Edited by SnowGypsy on Friday 29th of November 2013 06:30:10 PM

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RV-Dreams Family Member

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It is indeed a complicated topic, and there's a lot more to consider than just tax rates. A lot will be dependent upon what stage of life you're in and what things are important to your life - insurance rates, homeschooling laws (if you have kids), inheritance rules, business laws, etc.

Here's an article we wrote that goes over a lot of the considerations: www.technomadia.com/domicile

In general - if you work as an individual for a company that gives you a W-2 or 1099 in an income tax state, you will need to file state taxes there as well. We did a season working at Amazon in Kansas a few years back, and had to file KS taxes for that income. The state of your domicile may (or may not) also want to tax you for that income too, so be sure to check how they tax earned income outside of the state - it can vary quite a bit. We also check before taking a gig in a state how they would want to treat our earned income from other states.

Most of our income comes via our LLC, which is registered in FL (the same state as our domicile) - so we pay our federal self-employment taxes on our pass-thru profits from that company. Most of our work is done remotely as contractors, or via residual sales of our eProducts (books, apps, etc.). So thus most of our income is not from actually working for an employer in any particular state. We always check the regulations of a state we're in for any gotchas in terms of working in the state (even remotely), or limits on how long we can be there before we're considered a resident.

As far as paying sales tax on a vehicle - it varies. Some states make you pay sales tax regardless (like CA), but most others will exempt you from paying sales/excise tax if you're registering out of state. Always good to check before buying - we made the painful mistake once of shopping for a new tow truck in CA, and not discovering this gotcha until we got to signing the dotted line at the dealer.

- Cherie



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Cherie (and Chris) / Our blog: Technomadia.com

Full time since 2006 as Gen-X 'technomads' (technology enabled nomads)

RV Mobile Internet Resource Center (unbiased information by RVers for RVers)

zephyr_pixel.jpgRV: 1961 GM 4106 Bus

Toad: 2009 MINI Cooper



RV-Dreams Family Member

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I'm not sure I follow one point, Cherie -- let's say you are settled for a few weeks in IL (randomly selected) and you do a (remote) job for a client located in AZ. What income taxes, if any, are you responsible for paying? Also, do you need to collect sales tax?

I anticipate my situation will be very similar to yours... our domicile will be FL and we will create an LLC there for a company that provides remote services (administrative support). I will need to research whether I charge sales tax only to FL clients, or if I need to find in what states it is a taxable service. Are we talking about tax in the state you are currently working out of, or where the client is? Also, if you're working remotely, how can anyone even know where you are?

It's all so confusing!

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Cheryl B. in her new RV

(well, not new any more! Full timing since 6/25/14)

2008 DRV MS 36TKBS3 (the CoW: Castle on Wheels), 2005 Ford F550 hauler (the Bull)

My blog is http://mitcheryl-rv-journey.blogspot.com/

My business: www.AZAdminSolutions.com



RV-Dreams Family Member

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It is confusing :)

First of all, Florida does not collect sales tax for the type of services we provide (consulting) - just goods. For our apps & eBooks, we sell those through vendors that handle collecting & paying the sales tax for us (Amazon, Apple, CreateSpace, Google, etc.). Other states differ, such as SD does collect sales tax on some services.

If we're working for a client no matter where we are or they are, they're paying our Florida based LLC. If we were working & staying a LOT in the state of our client while we're working for them, that could change the situation - but we avoid that scenario and limit our services to being primarily remotely done with only day or two onsite visits at most.

We are however careful to know our residency laws in states we are at longer term - for if they can claim us as residents, we could be liable for state taxes, registrations, etc. while parked there. One reason Florida made a heck of a lot of sense for our domicile and business registration, is that we tend to spend several months a year there anyway (both our families live there) - and it's usually the only state we spend more than 2 months at a time in.

And of course, always good to work with a law firm and/or accountant knowledgeable about this stuff. We have a great small business attorney in Florida, if you'd like a reference for helping you set it up.






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Cherie (and Chris) / Our blog: Technomadia.com

Full time since 2006 as Gen-X 'technomads' (technology enabled nomads)

RV Mobile Internet Resource Center (unbiased information by RVers for RVers)

zephyr_pixel.jpgRV: 1961 GM 4106 Bus

Toad: 2009 MINI Cooper



RV-Dreams Family Member

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Cheryl - This might help, Honey Shellman is a CPA who is a full time RV'er. I spoke to her as we were making the transition as well as spent a lot of time looking through the articles on her website and I found her links to each state's tax site very helpful.

www.rvtaxhelp.com/


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FT - July 2013

 

2010 38TKSB3 DRV Mobile Suites

2012 Ford F450

 

Dale and Ruth Travelling with Tazzy Kat!

 

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RV-Dreams Family Member

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Great info, Cherry and Ruth (or was that Dale?) Thanks!

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Cheryl B. in her new RV

(well, not new any more! Full timing since 6/25/14)

2008 DRV MS 36TKBS3 (the CoW: Castle on Wheels), 2005 Ford F550 hauler (the Bull)

My blog is http://mitcheryl-rv-journey.blogspot.com/

My business: www.AZAdminSolutions.com

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