Half to Full Timing and Domicle

[smsasf]

Hi folks. First, yes, I have both searched and looked at a lot of threads till my head is spinning. I have two questions and I find simple answers calming.
Assumptions/Conditions: I do not mind moving away from my current state of NC and establishing a new domicile. I was born and raised in VA but have worked and travelled in most every state west of Mississippi River and lived in 7 of them. I like the colder and drier Rocky Mountain west more than the hot and humid central East Coast.
Questions:
1) Do most people who spend a great deal of time RVing and do not have a permanent base (ie not tied down by home/property ownership) choose a domicle state primarily based on the state income, property and sales tax structure?
2) Let’s say, for simplicity, I am willing to rent a 1 bedroom apartment as a base (and maybe rent a storage locker nearby) or even buy a small studio or condo in some city and state where it might be convenient to RV to western states of SD, MT, WY, CO, NM, AZ, UT, ID, NV (I already have a spreadsheet with a breakdown of states regarding income tax, property tax and sales tax), what cities (preferrably 20k to 75k populations) might be considered good options for a base? I am researching a lot of this, but any real experience would be nice.
Thanks, Stephen

[n2916s]

Cody, Wyoming is a cool, little town just east of Yellowstone NP. Nice people, excellent library, low taxes (no income tax in WY). Can be busy mid-summer but the rest of the year it is pretty quiet.
Has everything you need.

Domicile is defined differently here and there. I know a lot of folks use Escapees to establish it in Texas or Florida. They will help you with vehicle registration and the like.

When we sell our stick house in Florida, we plan to just use my sister-in-law’s address in North Florida...

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

We full time. It’s base on income taxes and vehicle registration fees and requirements. My wife is a travel nurse and has to pay taxes in the states that she works. If you work from home, technically you pay state taxes in your domicile.

Most people choose South Dakota, Texas, or Florida if I remember correctly mostly because of how frequently it is required that you come back for registration and ease of registration.

Florida for us, we just had to be in state for initial VIN inspection and now everything is renewed online. May need to do another inspection in a few more years...

[SnooMc]

We full-time and gave up our Colorado residency for domicile in South Dakota. They make it pretty easy, and the taxes were much better. We did not think we would go back until we needed to (five years for a new driver's license) but we discovered we really like the Black Hills area and are considering purchasing property there, just in case we need somewhere "official" to run to (in case of another COVID lockdown, for example.)

[smsasf]

Originally Posted by n2916s

Cody, Wyoming is a cool, little town just east of Yellowstone NP. Nice people, excellent library, low taxes (no income tax in WY). Can be busy mid-summer but the rest of the year it is pretty quiet.
Has everything you need.

Domicile is defined differently here and there. I know a lot of folks use Escapees to establish it in Texas or Florida. They will help you with vehicle registration and the like.

When we sell our stick house in Florida, we plan to just use my sister-in-law’s address in North Florida...

Thanks for your advice. I lived in Cheyenne while serving in USAF and have hunted and fished in many areas of the state, both then and during many trips back there from VA, TX, OK and CA. I like all the area around the Wind River Mtns. And I stayed in Cody for several days two years back during a 35 day tent and motel road trip. Really enjoyed the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. Was still fairly tourist crowded in Cody in late September. Now, with Kanye West buying the ranch north of there other so-called “Hollywood elites” will probably be looking for land for lodges. Hopefully they won’t drive locals out of the market like they did over the years in Jackson, WY, Montana Bitterroots, Sante Fe, Sedona, etc. Cody is a bit small and I would need to research medical facilities given my senior years, but if I did consider perhaps better move fast before real estate sky rockets. thx again

[smsasf]

Originally Posted by BigSxyWhtGuy

We full time. It’s base on income taxes and vehicle registration fees and requirements. My wife is a travel nurse and has to pay taxes in the states that she works. If you work from home, technically you pay state taxes in your domicile.

Most people choose South Dakota, Texas, or Florida if I remember correctly mostly because of how frequently it is required that you come back for registration and ease of registration.

Florida for us, we just had to be in state for initial VIN inspection and now everything is renewed online. May need to do another inspection in a few more years...

Thanks for the info. I suppose I am retired since I have not been gainfully employed in more than 3 years. So my state income tax is only related to IRA withdrawals. For folks in retirement, we also need to look at whether a state imposes tax on your social security benefits. At the federal level, based on my combined IRA and Social Security payments, 85% of my SS is taxable income. My current domicle state exempts tax on Social Security benefits as would any state having no state income tax. But some states, such as Monana, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico use any Social Security benefit as part of your tax liability. Currently, South Dakota is on my short list since I like Rapid City, the Black Hills, The Badlands, Deadwood. They have no state income tax, butbthey do have a still property ax, should you purchase a property there. I have a spreadsheet I am building out to take all this into account. Then I can sort on various components. Scientist stuff.

[smsasf]

Originally Posted by SnooMc

We full-time and gave up our Colorado residency for domicile in South Dakota. They make it pretty easy, and the taxes were much better. We did not think we would go back until we needed to (five years for a new driver's license) but we discovered we really like the Black Hills area and are considering purchasing property there, just in case we need somewhere "official" to run to (in case of another COVID lockdown, for example.)

Thanks for the info. I commented on Rapid City, Black Hills, etc. in the reply to other advisor. My research (and I believe I double checked but will again) shows the South Dakota statewide average property tax at $1,320 per $100K property value (if you end up buying a home). But of course the statewide median home cost is about half that of Colorado. The SD property tax is much higher, and in some cases double, that of any of the other western area states. Of course, there is no state income tax so that offsets. But their state sales tax is 6.4% (a little lower than the average) and I hit about 50% of income by that to do a wrap up on taxes. Of course, of the 9 states in my spreadsheet, Colorado is number 8 in highest taxes (New Mexico #9 due to slightly higher property and sales tax). And CO may be higher than the 7 below it because it appears you cannot claim a state level standard deduction (from what I see) offset against income when figuring tax liability. Still I am looking at Grand Junction as a possible relocation site.

[SnooMc]

There are many factors, some quite specific to the individual. We did a spreadsheet too (so helpful!) and SD came out on top, for us, at the time. Good luck with your search!

[ElisaMG]

Lots to think about. Definitely not simple. Escapees was helpful even though I was not planning on going to any of those three states. The discussions they have helped me think through all of the moving parts. I too did a spread sheet from above. Health Care was super important for me, as was my right to be able to vote. Cost of tabs for truck and trailer, cost of truck and trailer insurance varies. Weather was important as costs come with that. Mail was huge. Only you know what is most important to you. A spread sheet and crunching your own numbers will help you gain clarity.

[oldenavy]

We full-timed for a coupe of years. 1) yes, we based our decision on taxes mostly. We were VA residents when we started and quickly established our domicile in SD to get our from under the vehicle personal property tax in VA (we also did the spreadsheet for comparison). SD has a couple of neat features for full-timers. You only need to spend one night in the state to establish your residency (receipt for hotel or campground is all you need to show residency for getting your SD driver's license & plates for your vehicles).



2) No need to rent an apartment, unless you want to. There are many companies in the state that will rent you a PMB which gives you a real street address for your domicile. They'll forward your mail to wherever you tell them. We used America's Mailbox in Box Elder, near Rapid City. We put all our stuff in storage (in MD) while we full-timed. I did end up renting an office in Rapid City because I work as a contractor for DoD and they required me to have a fixed physical office, even though I never used it.



Good luck with your search & enjoy the process!

[BoatNutG2]

We bought a garage condo in Denver to hold the airstream and Tow Vehicle. Can leave it there if and when the pandemic ends and we want to do an overseas adventure.

[gary1burke]

Hi All, Very helpful thread. We have been full-timing for a couple of years and now have decided to sell our home in Oregon and change our domicile to avoid Oregon State Tax on our retirement income - a pension and SS. At first, we thought Texas would be ideal since we have friends from Texas who are big supporters of the idea but after much consideration, it turns out we prefer Arizona (Tuscon) for a place to actually *be*, for a number of reasons: less chance of tornadoes and hail damage, closer to family in Oregon, love Tucson recreationally, etc. Has anyone selected AZ as the domicile and could offer their experience, financially and just in general? I know I can look up things like state, county, and city taxes, costs for registering vehicles, etc. I'm just looking for the overview...

Thanks!

GB-no-longer-@-pdx

[DaveP]

Following.

[oldenavy]

GB, I don't have specific knowledge about AZ, but a couple of places to look for comparison info are:

https://taxfoundation.org/

https://www.bestplaces.net/

We've found those sites helpful when considering a move. I still recommend SD for full timers. It was very easy to establish domicile there and generally taxes & fees are lower than many other states. We still maintain our PMB in SD even though we're not full timing any longer. It's nice to have an address that stays the same. Don't know how long we'll be in our current location.

[smsasf]

Mr Burke (?), I started this thread back in mid-August so I will share a couple comments. I may have mentioned in inital thread that I had lived in 7 western states west of the plains, as well as 2 eastern states and 3 overseas countries (those almost 20 years). I moved to NC in mid 2017 from the middle east because I have two adult children with their families living in NC, but I really wanted to move out west. Well, when I bought the trailer in June I started thinking about full-timing so I posed the questions in the thread and I took a 52 days trailer trip out west starting easry September. WY, MT, ID, AZ, UT, CO, NM, TX and back to NC. I’d lived in several states (TX, WY, OK, AZ, CA) and had done field work in all the others. And I’d taken many other trips out west and am familiar with most states. OK, you did not ask for my story, so I apologise if you find irrelevant.

Anyway, I decided full-timing may not be for me, but I want to live more in proximity to states that have significant public lands for hiking (hiked at least 150 miles total on recent trip) and which have the scenery I like. So I (scientist and good with simple accounting spreadsheets) started building out spreadsheet with10 states and columns for such things as median home price and/or average rents, property tax, sales tax, Cost of Living Index, populations, age demographics and such. You implied you would be full timing and not have a home. Just as a side note. I have determined based on running comparisons of ownership versus renting that if I sell my house and invest proceeds at even a 2% growth I can probably break even in a rent scenario since I would not be paying property tax, higher utilities, maintenance, etc and the 2% investment proceeds would cover differential cost of renting. Anyway, when I run the spreadsheet without including housing and just have state income and sales tax then WY is on top, then SD, then NV and then AZ. Remember for sales tax you do not include all income, maybe just 25% of it. So if you do not like the cold of WY or SD or the desolation of most on NV then AZ good choice. Of course, city is critical as well. Probably only place I’d want to live in AZ is Flagstaff, however median home price is around $400k and median rental for 2 BR is $1,600. Ouch. I found Best Places, SmartAsset (seems very accurate for state income and property tax) and TaxJar (for sales tax) to be accurate when cross referenced with buried government data.

BTW, I assume you have seen some of the old westerns and other shows where the guy breaks an egg on the pavement and it fries. I think those were all in AZ. I worked in southern AZ in the field and also lived in Tucson a short time. Could get up to 115.

Take Care, Stephen

[Hittenstiehl]

Also check the Escapees and Xscapers websites for information.

Fulltimers Technomadia have also chosen a winter location near Tuscon.