Community Forums

HD4Mark · 06-02-2010, 12:45 PM

Looking toward retirement we have heard that Florida residency is a good idea. No income tax comes to mind first. What are some other reasons to change from NY and pitfalls? It appears easy enough to declare but we want to make sure we are not going to get into any trouble by looking like we are faking it.

We plan to spend enough time there to qualify if the 6 months plus one day thing we hear is true but we will be mobile so a Fl mail forwarding service would be the way to go. That in itself would look hokey to me.

How about vehicle registrations too. The initial cost is high and renewal doesn't look much cheaper than NY but in order to be residents your vehicles should be registered in that state correct? No front plate and one time inspection is attractive though. How does insurance compare. Both are "no fault" states. Fl drivers licenses would be required also I assume.

We would also like to maintain the sticks and bricks house in NY. I have a buddy that seems to have done this route but darned if I can get a hold of him to quiz him about it.

RVThere · 06-02-2010, 12:55 PM

One other advantagein FL is no Estate Taxes so your hard earned money goes to your heirs - not to the state of NY.

We have not made the switch yet but plan on becoming FL residents as soon as our youngest is out of high school (about 3 years). Like NY, NJ is no place to stay if you want to reduce your tax burden.

This forum is great, but your best bet is to talk to an accountant who is well versed in the tax laws of both states.

HD4Mark · 06-02-2010, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVThere

This forum is great, but your best bet is to talk to an accountant who is well versed in the tax laws of both states.

Thanks RVThere,
Great idea. We will give our tax guy a call as soon as we know our retirement status. We have used him for a number of years and trust that he will at least point us in the right direction.

GaryKD · 06-02-2010, 01:23 PM

Hi Mark,
If after becoming a resident of Florida, you purchase property, make sure you file for a homestead exemption. This does two things:
1. provides a deduction from the property's appraised value for tax purposes.
2. Limits the amount property taxes can go up (they never go down) each year.

All insurance costs will be determined by your zip code. The farther south one goes the more expensive it gets.

As to car tags, after the initial one time costs, a renewal example is my wife's car was just renewed for two years for $92.20 (02 Caddy Deville).

Gotta_P · 06-02-2010, 04:00 PM

We just registered our RV in a part-time status and it cost $191.00 for the initial registration, renewals should be significantly less. Insurance in FL was about $600 more a year than Georgia, but registration was about $1200 less, so it made more sense to register it in FL than GA even though we don't live in FL all year. We did not have to obtain a FL Driver's License and maintained our GA License. Once fully retired we will shift our residency to FL full-time to avoid paying state income tax on our retirement income, but till I'm fully retired, we need to maintain our GA residency.

Tom N · 06-03-2010, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryKD

2. Limits the amount property taxes can go up (they never go down) each year.

My close friend owns a home in Homosassa, Citrus County, FL. His real estate taxes have gone down the last few years. They took a huge drop because Citrus County appraises every year.

-Tom

HD4Mark · 06-03-2010, 09:30 AM

One concern I have is that we may not be purchasing property right away. We have a RE agent looking around to try to find us an RV lot in Monroe county but being stuck still at work up north it is hard to make a real decision without being able to see the property. So we may be in a few different locations when we do get to go longer and that concerns me because it could look like we are faking it.

Oh well, we are not there yet so we will see what happens. Hopefully we will know our retirement status within 2 weeks.

BTW the Realtor did say her taxes went down with reassessment.

GaryKD · 06-03-2010, 01:13 PM

Hi Tom N,
Does "your friend" have his property homesteaded? Homestead properties is what my post refers to. Properties that are not homesteaded can have fluctuating property taxes.

Wizard · 06-03-2010, 01:31 PM

Gotta_p, you do know that in Georgia you don't pay state income taxes on retirement income. Have not paid Ga. state taxes in a few years.

tncruiser · 06-03-2010, 01:41 PM

try tennessee no income tax reasonable real estate tax auto ins. is very cheap and lic plates on your mh will be 24.50 a year if you pick a county w/o wheel tax. there are several communities in east tn that are rv communities
come on down yall (and no were not a bunch of rednecks not that would be bad thing)
brianj
tncruiser

HD4Mark · 06-03-2010, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tncruiser

try tennessee no income tax reasonable real estate tax auto ins. is very cheap and lic plates on your mh will be 24.50 a year if you pick a county w/o wheel tax. there are several communities in east tn that are rv communities
come on down yall (and no were not a bunch of rednecks not that would be bad thing)
brianj
tncruiser

Thanks Brian,
We talked to a couple a few years ago that did just that. They moved from a town very close to us to Tennessee and winter in Florida. We aren't ready for that jump yet but if our taxes here get too high it will be an consideration.

Right now where we both work the company has offered an early retirement incentive offer. They have in mind how many they want to let go and we both put in for it. We won't know for a couple of weeks if we both got it, one of us got it or neither one of us got it. I guess I am just starting to work out an exit plan from NY but we would really love to keep the house here on the lake.

Gary RVRoamer · 06-04-2010, 07:19 AM

Becoming a Florida resident is easy as far as Florida is concerned - just declare yourself a resident and you should move your vehicle registrations and driver licenses there to give firm indication of your intent. You don't have to wait six months. However, if you stay there over six months, you are expected to become a resident.

But if you keep your property in NY, you may have a difficult time convincing NY you are NOT a NY resident and subject to NY taxes. Ownership of property in a state with which you have a long term affiliation will tend to outweigh the rather limited affiliation with another state (Licenses and such).

HD4Mark · 06-04-2010, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Roamer [Gary]

But if you keep your property in NY, you may have a difficult time convincing NY you are NOT a NY resident and subject to NY taxes. Ownership of property in a state with which you have a long term affiliation will tend to outweigh the rather limited affiliation with another state (Licenses and such).

That is what I am afraid of. We are not really looking to fool NY state, just take advantage of being in Fl. If I never saw another snow flake it would be too soon

Gotta_P · 06-04-2010, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wizard

Gotta_p, you do know that in Georgia you don't pay state income taxes on retirement income. Have not paid Ga. state taxes in a few years.

You sure about that? GA sure has no problem taking my money every month, and I got hit with a bill from GA IRS the year after I retired because I hadn't paid any taxes that first year on my retirement income. Not sure if you're referring to a State, Federal, or Civilian retirement, by mine is Federal (Military), and I'm still working, so I'm not on a fixed income.