Choosing WASHINGTON STATE as our domicile

[SMDAT]

We are going fulltime this summer and already live (selling home) in Washington State. Should we just keep our domicile here? Are there reliable mail-forwarding services here?

Are there experienced others that have chosen Washington?

I understand the big three are Texas, South Dakotah and Florida for domicile.

ANY input would be MUCH APPRECIATED : )

 

[SouthernNights]

I can't give any advice but I am going to watch this very important thread. This is going to be a real concern to us soon also.

Be safe and have fun with your new lifestyle.

 

[ralphpam]

We were Washington state residents and then went full time. You must have a residential address not a PMB or PO to keep the state happy. We used a daughters address for the legal stuff only. The mail forwarder we used was terrible - just didn't seem to understand full time and getting the mail to the right place. Since we had a motorhome at the time we changed to FMCA mail. When we bought our Bighorn, we changed to South Dakota with 3% tax on vehicles vs 8.2% in WA. The mail forwarders in South Dakota understand full timers and ours has been a great help and gets our mail to the right place! The vehicle insurance in SD was much less, but the license tabs are a bit more, although WA seems to be adding fees yearly! Many people use Escapees in Texas that offer an address for residency and a mail forwarding service for any Escapee.

 

[Bob&Patty]

We are not fulltime yet. But we chose Montana. So far all our vehicles are registered there, but you have to at least own dirt there. Property taxes and registration fee's are cheap. There is no sales tax in Montana.

 

[Tom of Ypsi]

We were Michigan residence and went with Americas Mailbox in Rapid City, SD because of license and insurances being much cheaper. There is no wheel tax in Rapid City like some other counties and no income tax and 3% sales on vehicles. Do yourselves a favor and compare all your insurances, all plates etc before committing to a resident state.

 

[SmokeyBare]

When we decided to go full time, we selected South Dakota for our Home State. As Tom has stated, the tax differences alone was enough to swing us to SD. Ohio would have charged more than double than SD's 3% tax we paid on both our Bighorn & Chevy Truck.

Things to consider when selecting a Home State:

Income Tax on earned income as well as tax on UN-earned income & dividends.
Sales Tax on big item purchases of RV or Vehicles.
Insurance Rates for the RV, Truck as well as Full Time's Liability Insurance.
Wheel Tax, Personal Property Tax.
Vehicle Emissions Testing.

Also it's important to know that when it comes time to renew a South Dakota Driver License, it must be done in person. The License can be renewed up to 180 Days prior to your birthday but not more than 30 days past that date. Going past 30 days requires taking the driving test again. Do the math... for both Husband & Wife birth dates.

For the last 5 years we have used "My Home Address" located in Emery SD for our mail forwarding company.

http://www.myhomeaddressinc.com/

 

[ParkIt]

WA can be a real pita sometimes for tab renewal, physical address and all that but we still want to maintain our 'residence' here. I checked with our Estate Attorney and it turns out that since we have everything in trust, we can use a street address mail box company and stay within the legal requirements. Places like PostNet & PonyExpress are nationwide and have a physical address, its the best way for us to do this once we hit the road.

 

[olyfire]

We went full time for 2 1/2 years. We then went back to a home, too many kids and grand kids to have over at the same time.
Anyway we kept WA state as our home domicile. We used a local mailing service with a street address and suite number. There is no state income tax, vehicle license rates are low.