Community Forums

trigud · 06-02-2013, 07:15 AM

Hi, my DW and I are going to go FT early next year, and we are thinking of using a domicile in SD. We have not yet bought the MH and are wondering how early do we neet to register in order to get lower sale taxes ??

JMonroe · 06-02-2013, 08:19 AM

Before you buy your rig.

Establishing legal domicile in SD is easy, but it does require spending at least one night in SD. There are at least three mailbox services in the state, we used America's Mailbox in Box Elder (Rapid City). They have motel rooms (and a campground) on their property you can rent and that will qualify you under SD law. The driver's license station is no more than 10 minutes from their property and we were in and out of there in about 10 minutes.

bdickson · 06-02-2013, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMonroe

Before you buy your rig.

Establishing legal domicile in SD is easy, but it does require spending at least one night in SD. There are at least three mailbox services in the state, we used America's Mailbox in Box Elder (Rapid City). They have motel rooms (and a campground) on their property you can rent and that will qualify you under SD law. The driver's license station is no more than 10 minutes from their property and we were in and out of there in about 10 minutes.

X2 on America's Mailbox. A word of caution though: if you are financing your rig, some lenders don't like full timers who do not have a stick&brick address. We were turned down initially by Bank of the West and had to go through hoops to establish an address that they would accept. In short, we had to register the MH in North Carolina (using a friends address) then transfer the registration to S Dakota. It did not cost us any extra in sales tax since NC and SD both charge 3% on new vehicles. The best approach would be to see if your dealer has a finance company that works with full timers.

smack2020 · 06-02-2013, 11:06 AM

I also wanted to buy using a SD address to avoid CA sales tax. I talked to a couple lenders that said it was harder to get a loan if FTing and read some threads that said the same. We thought about registering the Moho in Nevada for a year, but we would not be able to bring it back to CA without lying. We also wanted to get our Moho at least a year before we went FT to work out the bugs and set it up the way we want. So we bit the bullet, and paid CA a bunch of money on sales tax, ouch. But we are done, now just need to register Moho in SD when we go FTing.

My dilemma is we go FTing December of 2014 and I want to change Domicile around February of 2015, but I know winter is not a good time to go to SD in the Moho. I might have to fly up from CA to change my Domicile. We plan on spending February 2015 in southern Arizona.

okmunky · 06-02-2013, 10:18 PM

I signed up with My Home Address, INC about 2 weeks prior to purchasing my MH and 3 months prior to going FT. They snail mailed me all of the forms and info I needed in order to title and register my MH in SD. I did not have to go to SD until later. They mailed me the license plates and title while I still lived in OK.

I chose this mail forwarding company due to my insurance rates being considerably lower due to the fact that they are in a very small rural town. They have provided me excellent service and have been very easy to work with on all my mail, voting, jury duty notice and licensing needs.

JMonroe · 06-03-2013, 06:26 AM

The warnings about financing, after you've sold your home, are right on. One broker we spoke to told us he represented 8 banks, only one of which would even speak to you about a loan if you did not own a home and they'd charge at least a full point more for the privilege. That's why we moved our purchase up almost a year before we sold the house. That year also gave us an opportunity to 'debug' the new rig before we were living in it full time.

kyrv · 06-14-2013, 12:53 AM

I just became an official South Dakota resident last weekend, I use My Dakota Address and I know there are a few more. Good luck!

Clay L · 06-15-2013, 11:19 AM

We have used Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls as our mailing service for 8 or 9 years. Several years ago the news letter they put out listed a bank in Sioux Falls that is happy to do business with and give loans to full timers.
If you use AR you could ask them for the name of the bank.

jpharley · 06-16-2013, 03:08 PM

We use MyDakotaAddress in Madison, SD. Terri is wonderful to work with.

Flanagan · 06-17-2013, 06:23 AM

Thanks for asking the question. We are planning full timing in June 2014. We are contemplating Texas or SD for residence. TX has Escapees fo mail etc but SD seems mor RV friendly. We bought our MoHo in February and paid sales tax to MA, just like others, so we could have time and place to prepare our rig.

kyrv · 06-18-2013, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flanagan

Thanks for asking the question. We are planning full timing in June 2014. We are contemplating Texas or SD for residence. TX has Escapees fo mail etc but SD seems mor RV friendly. We bought our MoHo in February and paid sales tax to MA, just like others, so we could have time and place to prepare our rig.

SD has a specific form for people using a mail forwarding service, to get your DL, to me, my perception, I was very comfortable with how above board it was. I think eventually I'll be in TX or FL but very happy I chose SD, but seem to be great choices for all 3 locations. But SD also is several hours closer to where I'll sort of kind of be somewhat based from, if that makes any sense.

One thing on SD, if you have a DL you are put in the jury pool, whether or not you are registered to vote, just Fyi.

Clay L · 06-18-2013, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrv

CLIP.

One thing on SD, if you have a DL you are put in the jury pool, whether or not you are registered to vote, just Fyi.

You are, however if you get a jury duty notice all you have to do is write "Full Timer" on it and send it back to the court clerk. At least that is how it works in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha county. She removed me and my wife from the list when I sent mine back.

Startech · 06-25-2013, 08:19 AM

Just wondering why an LLC in Montana while domiciled in the state of your choice hasn't been discussed. I am domiciled in Texas while my coach is registered in Montana. Montana has 0 sales tax and you dont have to "go" to Montana.

JMonroe · 06-25-2013, 08:55 AM

The Montana LLC has been discussed many times here at IRV2. While it may work well for some, it can be a trap for others. For example, we've seen tales of California residents getting fined heavily, the local governments looking for out of state plates parked in neighborhoods and storage lots. There's also been talk of other states (most are dealing with huge budget deficits and looking for every dollar they can scare up) starting to do the same. You rarely hear anyone talk about the cost of securing and maintaining the LLC, or the implications for insurance costs. I don't know what they are but I do know I was asked by multiple insurance companies, while shopping for coverage, if the motorhome was registered to a LLC.