FL or TN for residency and living. - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Big Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

FL or TN for residency and living.

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

Depends on how much you like humidity!! Many say Florida but it is getting to populated! personally I like the little city of Lebanon Tn. and I am a former NE Upstate NY Yankee. I lived in Florida for about 8 years. I have lived here for 4 + yrs and I believe the people are friendlier here than in Florida! There are no income taxes! However there is a city and state tax on good and services. The best thing to do is google search for information. There will be many different views on where it's better as members chime in!

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I know people who are domiciled in Florida that have never been there.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

I see that you are a bit younger than us.... so you want to do the out and about for a year or perhaps longer then a home base. Home base for how long? Hard to see, the future is. (Yoda) If you believe climate change is real then I'd opt for TN over Venice FL. That area of Florida is pretty low and projections of even a couple of degrees of warming will raise sea levels enough to put most of that area underwater within a decade or two. Sea levels are rising much faster than even what was estimated even a couple of years ago. Still, you have time but in reality, real estate values will drop before then, once the evidence starts to manifest itself. Parts of Miami are already flooding daily, it's only going to get worse. Forewarned is forearmed. JMHO.

Brian

On edit, if the real estate game turns south in FL and the potential for tourism dwindles as well, the state will have to raise taxes significantly to compensate for the eroding tax base. Living there could be economically unsustainable not too far into the future. Again JMHO.

-- Edited by BiggarView on Thursday 27th of April 2017 04:59:41 AM

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

Kiplinger rates Florida as more tax-friendly for retirees than Tennessee. The sales taxes are lower (by almost 2%) in FL, dividends and interest are taxed in TN and are not in FL. Florida has several mail service businesses (including Escapees, now) that can provide you with a legal domicile and mail forwarding; I'm not aware of any in Tennessee. If you plan to spend more time travelling than stationary, climate may not be an issue. However, if you plan to spend more time at your "home base" after your first year, winter can be much more serious in Tennessee than in Florida.

Rob

melody · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mike, just wanted to throw in my 2 cents; your health insurance situation has a bearing on where you choose to domicile. If you have medicare or tricare or some decent deal going already, it might not matter. But ifyou have to buy insurance on the ACA marketplace, it's a big deal. Right now Florida Blue may be the only option that is suitable for people who travel a lot, most of the other states only want to cover you in a PPO or HMO in your county of residence.

There's actually a lot on this site regarding domicile and insurance if you nose around. Recently the 'Researching RV living' part of the forum had a discussion about the situation.

Clay L · RV-Dreams Family Member

The three states used most often by full timers are SD,TX and FL. This is because they are friendly to full timers and make it easy to establish domicile. They allow you to use your mail forwarding service address on your drivers license and vehicle registrations. They also allow you to register to vote and take you off the jury duty rolls or excuse you from duty when you are out of state. We chose SD. There are a number of good mail forwarding services in the state. We chose DakotaPost. Their web site has a lot of info about using SD as your domicile - not just a resident. You can have your domicile in one state and reside in another state. The distinction is important. Their web site is DakotaPost

-- Edited by Clay L on Tuesday 13th of December 2016 04:20:35 PM

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

I meant to reference a couple of very useful resources. Howard and Linda have a good page on "Home Base" on the web site:

http://www.rv-dreams.com/home-base-selection.html

And a lot of work has gone into the same topic on the Escapees web site (you may need to join Escapees to access this information):

https://www.escapees.com/resources/domicile

The Escapees' information includes a PDF checklist of things to consider.

Rob

Big Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Wow thanks to all !

LandYachty · RV-Dreams Family Member

We set up our FL "home" in 1997 with St Brendan's Isle in Green Cove Springs and have been very happy. They do great mail forwarding, and are helpful with establishing your residency.

RetiredVagabond · RV-Dreams Community Member

I'm originally a Californian, glad to be a resident of Montana now. Travel Full time, my sister in Montana acts as my mail manager. The taxes in Montana aren't the best, but better than most states.

TheNewhalls · RV-Dreams Family Member

LandYachty wrote:
We set up our FL "home" in 1997 with St Brendan's Isle in Green Cove Springs and have been very happy. They do great mail forwarding, and are helpful with establishing your residency.

X2

lafarmer · RV-Dreams Community Member

SD is a great State to establish residency. No State income tax, lower insurance rates for vehicles and lower vehicle registration. http://www.yourbestaddress.com is a great place for information about SD residency and a low cost service that helps you take the steps necessary. They are an amazing service with real people. I highly recommend checking out their service.

LarryW21 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Have you discussed the tax issues of TN vs. FL with anyone? Any tax issues regarding the sale of your home?

-- Edited by LarryW21 on Wednesday 26th of April 2017 08:10:38 PM

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

Kiplinger has a lot of good resources - you can start with their tax map for retirees:

http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/retirement/T055-S001-state-by-state-guide-to-taxes-on-retirees/

I know from personal experience that many parts of Tennessee have extremely high sales taxes...

Rob

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Low to no income tax states have to raise revenue somehow... higher sales taxes is one way to do it. They also get you on fees and licensing. If not one those types of things, then they typically cut services or other things so that they more or less balance out. When it comes to money, government gets their "cut" from you one way or another. How you value what they deploy those tax dollars for should weigh on which state you pick.

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

BiggarView wrote:
the f you believe climate change is real then I'd opt for TN over Venice FL. That area of Florida is pretty low and projections of even a couple of degrees of warming will raise sea levels enough to put most of that area underwater within a decade or two. Sea levels are rising much faster than even what was estimated even a couple of years ago.
-- Edited by BiggarView on Thursday 27th of April 2017 04:59:41 AM

Not to start a whole global warming debate…or hijack the OP's question…but IIRC I saw recently that sea level rise had slowed and was significantly less than the one side had claimed it would be. We could have a very interesting debate about that whole climate change thing…but it wouldn't be RV related so we would have to have a different thread. I did see a recent article by a guy on the "man is changing the climate" side of the debate that basically admitted that the "settled science" claim of that side was so much BEP (bovine end product) and that to an actual scientist there is no such thing as "settled science". He advocated a red/blue team approach to actually conduct unbiased science rather than science to reinforce your predetermined conclusions…which is what in his view both sides of that debate are doing.

As to the OP question…I think TN has state income tax. You do need to figure out medical, car insurance, registration and all that jazz…but in the great scheme of things I don't think there are significant differences in the overall total…we recently switched from SD to FL (Saint Brendan's Isle in Green Cove Springs) and the total yearly cost was within a couple hundred bucks of being a wash. Don't remember which was cheaper…but changing was way cheaper than driving all the way to SD to renew our drivers licenses in the middle of winter…SD lets you renew by internet/mail…but you have to have spent one night in the state within the past 12 months. FL allows your mailing service to be your official domicile and hence that requirement doesn't exist. We're here every winter anyway…but that's beside the point.

Bruce and Robin · RV-Dreams Family Member

Neil,

Glad you didn't go too far down that global warming path.

Biggar View - I wouldn't worry too much about Venice or any other Florida coast more than I would the floods in Nashville a couple years ago. I do not think that is the point.

I have lived in Florida for the last 4 years. I have lived in many states from CA to PA. My sister lives in Nashville, TN and she complains about the high taxes in TN all the time. Their sales tax is over 8%, I believe. I will just say, everyone just needs to figure out their situation. As Neil stated, convenience factors in after the math. I like the vehicle registration renewal costs and no inspections. I tagged my RV for multiple years too. The license renewal and cost and no state income tax is great too. The sales tax is only 6%, insurance can be high depending on the county you live in FL. I will change that soon when I finally leave Lee County. I think I will go to either to St. Brendan's Isle in Clay County or Escapees in Sumter County. In Sumter County insurance is about 7% less than the median of all 67 counties. Lee County is 8.9% higher, and Clay County is 1.89% below median. I know some of you will need to figure health insurance costs and I have no idea how Florida rates in that area compared to any other state. For convenience Florida is great. You can come down here for a couple weeks or a couple months in the winter and warm up, get your medical stuff done, and head back out! Probably why Florida is one of the top spots to domicile.

-- Edited by Bruce and Robin on Friday 28th of April 2017 06:39:47 PM

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tenneessee has no Income tax, the state taxes replace it. As far as floods there are many different areas here that are in higher elevations!
Many counties near large Metros have emission only inspections, Tags are reasonable and insurance rates according to the year of your vehicle!

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

BiggarView wrote:
Low to no income tax states have to raise revenue somehow... higher sales taxes is one way to do it. They also get you on fees and licensing. If not one those types of things, then they typically cut services or other things so that they more or less balance out. When it comes to money, government gets their "cut" from you one way or another. How you value what they deploy those tax dollars for should weigh on which state you pick.

So true ... the government will get theirs, one way or another. In Texas, they hit real estate hardest, reasonable sales taxes and no state income tax. Inheritance tax is taken care of by the trust so not a consideration. As a full timer, we no longer own any real estate, so we avoid that entirely. I use my daughter in law as my mail forwarding service, but I pay her like I would a mail service so that's not a decision maker. Vehicle taxes/registration are pretty reasonable. They do have an annual vehicle safety inspection that is necessary before you can renew your plates. Renewal does not require a return to the state, but does require safety inspection compliance within 3 days of returning to Texas. We're actually going to use that to get our truck and trailer renewal dates "in sync" they are now 4 months out of sync (due to both being new). For us, we winter in Texas, so returning once a year is not a problem, we do that anyway for holidays, annual Dr and Dental visits, so no problem.

As you can see, many of the reasons we chose Texas are due to our unique situation and needs. I suspect that would be the primary driver for most people. H&L are domiciled in Kentucky, for reasons that are unique to them. Their are 3 popular states for full timers (FL, SD and TX) ... but those are not the only choices that make sense. If your situation or preferences drive you to a different state, go with it. There really is no right or wrong choice, just chose the one that best fits your unique needs. It's something you can change later if you wish to. Good Luck.

-- Edited by RonC on Saturday 29th of April 2017 02:57:20 PM

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bruce and Robin wrote:
Neil,

Glad you didn't go too far down that global warming path.
Biggar View - I wouldn't worry too much about Venice or any other Florida coast more than I would the floods in Nashville a couple years ago. I do not think that is the point...

Climate change is real no matter how you slice it or define it. I agree with Neil...who or what causes it, how fast it is occuring and what outcomes can we expect would be a debate for another forum.

I was only giving something to consider when thinking about homebasing options which was the OPs question. Homebasing usually involves longer term planning decisions. Since Rvers are mobile by definition, is not a major concern and certainly there is "plenty-o-time" to get out of the way especially in low lying areas. Yep, they get flooding in TN too... different kind of animal though.

FWIW, Brian