Advice on registration

[Ocletti]

Originally Posted by chuydog

Is it a hassle to register an RV in a state that has lower registration rates than Arizona? We're paying over $800 a year. I'm told you must use a resident agent or set up a LLC in say Montana or Idaho.

Any advise on how to do this and is it worth it?

Thanks

Do you live in that state full time? Do you own a stick built house? Are you retired? These are all important questions concerning what you want to do. My wife and I retired 5 years ago in Mo. We sold our home, and most of our stuff. You are required by law to have a state of residence. So, as a retiree, on a fixed income, we chose the state of Tn. No state taxes, no personal prop taxes, $24.00 a year license for my Tiffin Bus, and $24.00 a year for my Honda CRV. there's no vehicle inspection in our town either! I don't live there, haven't been there in over 5 years. So.....you need to look at all your options.

[Ocletti]

Originally Posted by Ocletti

Do you live in that state full time? Do you own a stick built house? Are you retired? These are all important questions concerning what you want to do. My wife and I retired 5 years ago in Mo. We sold our home, and most of our stuff. You are required by law to have a state of residence. So, as a retiree, on a fixed income, we chose the state of Tn. No state taxes, no personal prop taxes, $24.00 a year license for my Tiffin Bus, and $24.00 a year for my Honda CRV. there's no vehicle inspection in our town either! I don't live there, haven't been there in over 5 years. So.....you need to look at all your options.

We travel full time. Few months here, and there. Where ever we want to go. We winter usually in So. Texas...3,4 or 5 month.

[wa8yxm]

Register the RV in your state of residence..

Weird Al Yankovich has a song (Midnight Star) where one of the lines is "You can learn to cpe with stress, You can beat the IRS, and the increadable frog boy is on the loose again) (or is it wolf boy).

Many have felt they can cheat the Treasury, be it the federal or the state.. And many are now enjoying the result. The Montana LLC has saved many a few hundred dollars and wound up costing them several thousand in legal fees, fines, costs, and restitution.

Register the RV in your home state please. Trying to cheat the government is a good way to have regerts later.

True fiction: There is a fiction writer who wrote a story (Doorway to Summer or some such title) where one of the characters has physic powers, When she greets an IRS auditor she has flashes of his former employment, One of Hitler's Gestapo officers.

Now the story was fiction (the true parts are two, one being that it has been written)

The true (other true) part is that many feel the Tax collectors (And this goes back to before Christ walked the earth) are no different from the Gestapo. And for good reason too. They are NASTY folks, they take great joy in causing the most grief and they don't really care if you are wrong or not, They get it into their heads they may well impount your RV, with your dog inside,, They don't care.. Tow it right out of a campground. the IRS once impounded a couple's kids (They lost that case) and padlocked a business I know of for the weekend, hitting him at the close of the business day on Friday.. NOTE that he'd paid every penny that was due and was NOT in default.. They messed up the paperwork on their end.. Same happened to me save it was the city, not the state, and they gave me a chance to explain. Turns out they had made a mistake, Twice, the agent fixed it while I waited and we shook hands and parted friends. Detroit's tax folks have brains.. can't say Michigan's are that good.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by zeelarry

We did the Montana LLC thing a few years ago. We used a firm up there that handled everything for us and handles all of our yearly, legal stuff & registration. However, we did go one step further. We have a RENTAL AGREEMENT showing that we rent the motor home from the LLC. Never had a problem!

One couple in WA used that, had the same setup through a MT attorney. They lost in court and owe something over $25,000 in back taxes, fees and fines. Lots of states are going after people for illegal use of LLC's.

[BFlinn181]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

....where one of the characters has physic powers, When she greets an IRS auditor she has flashes of his former employment, One of Hitler's Gestapo officers.

Definition physic: (n) a medicine that purges; a laxative.

Those are some powerful powers! The few hundred dollars you might save in registration fees would be eaten up by legal fees, loss of sleep, constantly looking over your shoulder, etc. Bite the bullet and pays your taxes, but also VOTE to try to make it better.

[Dutch Star Don]

"wnytaxman"......I'm not a tax guy so I'll take your word on it, as apparently you are. It's a good learning point. But, no matter how you paint this picture, morally and ethically, unless you're a fulltimer and travelling around the country, you're trying to get over on the local state government.

We always try to find ways to justify our position when we know in our mind we're doing something wrong.....

[wnytaxman]

Originally Posted by Diplomat Don

"wnytaxman"......I'm not a tax guy so I'll take your word on it, as apparently you are. It's a good learning point. But, no matter how you paint this picture, morally and ethically, unless you're a fulltimer and travelling around the country, you're trying to get over on the local state government.

We always try to find ways to justify our position when we know in our mind we're doing something wrong.....

Don, I don't really disagree with you. I looked into the Montana LLC when I bought my unit and determined that I could not comply with the law, so I didn't do it. The morality of using the law to one's advantage goes back many years ago to the US Supreme Court Justice, Learned Hand. He made a statement that in essence said that there is nothing immoral in structuring one's affairs in such a fashion that results in legally reducing one's taxes.

The decision to use any tax reducing technique is always a personal one. I can tell you though, that I have never had a client come into my office and tell me that they don't want to take deductions they are legally entitled to so that they could pay more taxes than they would have owed. Even my most liberal leaning of clients have always said that they don't want to pay any more than they absolutely have to.

[wnytaxman]

Andy, I think that making this thread political will probably get it shut down and I would hate to see that as there is some good information in it that some folks may be able to use without doing a search on Montana LLC's.

By the way, using all caps is considered shouting. I'm sure you feel very strongly about your position but all caps in a long post seems to be a bit over the top.

[Largeandy]

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

Andy, I think that making this thread political will probably get it shut down and I would hate to see that as there is some good information in it that some folks may be able to use without doing a search on Montana LLC's.

By the way, using all caps is considered shouting. I'm sure you feel very strongly about your position but all caps in a long post seems to be a bit over the top.

I certainly did not mean to use all caps as a way of shouting so I appreciate that. I did not realize that at all so my apologies extended to anyone who considered that. I also am merely only trying to point out that the issue of different tax rates in different States seems to be based upon exactly what I brought up. I avoided any finger pointing at any political party as this issue is something that applies to all. Why would the issue of people scrambling to find the best RV registration deal be true if my comments are invalid? My post may have been long but I also notice you have posted several replies as well. Thank you for your comments on the all caps issue as well as your other comments. I will simply pass on further comment. Thank you.

[ralphie]

Originally Posted by Largeandy;[I

[moderator edit][/I]

I appreciate your comments because the basis of this thread does indeed point to the disparity of the tax system(s), although in this case between the states rather than the Fed. Unfortunately, states rights come into play here, and some people will try to legally avoid some states' crushing taxes/fees.

I will just say that it's okay to avoid taxes by registering in whatever state you choose, since you have a right to claim any of the 50 states as your legal domicile, but you also have to do the other things necessary, such as registering to vote there, driver's license, have some presence there (even if it's only a few days or hours), library card?, pay taxes, sit on jury duty, etc. Ownership of real estate may not an issue as long as you don't live in/on the real estate in question for lengthy periods of time, but clearly, you must do many other things in order to have a valid claim of domicile, somewhere.

[wnytaxman]

Ralphie, there are huge disparities in many respects between not only states but also counties and even towns. There has been various threads on this and other forums about the best way to avoid the personal property taxes levied by certain counties in Virginia. Here in my own area, the real estate taxes tend to be lower in counties without a large city in them. In almost every instance there are trade offs that one will encounter by leaving one place and going to another.

As to the Original Posters question, find out your local laws and determine if you can comply with the requirements of those laws. If he/she can comply, then they must be able to document their compliance if they plan on going ahead with the Montana LLC or any other registration that is outside of their residential jurisdiction.

Ed

[Butte64]

Is there a downside to having an adult son or daughter also on the title?

[wnytaxman]

Originally Posted by Butte64

Is there a downside to having an adult son or daughter also on the title?

I'm not a lawyer, but a CPA, so my perspective is going to be based on what I have seen in the past. I would not put an adult child on the title of the RV. The main reasons that I would not are the potential for the child being sued for any reason and the potential for divorce. The divorce rates are close to 50% on first marriages, so the odds are no better than 50/50 that having a child on the title could get into a messy situation down the road.

Just my $.02 from a bean counters perspective.

[Butte64]

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

I'm not a lawyer, but a CPA, so my perspective is going to be based on what I have seen in the past. I would not put an adult child on the title of the RV. The main reasons that I would not are the potential for the child being sued for any reason and the potential for divorce. The divorce rates are close to 50% on first marriages, so the odds are no better than 50/50 that having a child on the title could get into a messy situation down the road.

Just my $.02 from a bean counters perspective.

Thank, good thought. I assume you are referring to divorce of the son or daughter.