Domicile - Which Is "Best"

[BAMABOB]

Hello All!

Retirement is starting to get real now! We retire at the end of 2017.

Of course I have obsessed over finances, insurance and so forth BUT the one thing I have not gotten a good handle on is domicile!

We are selling our S&B and will fulltime for the next few years and I would like to pick a domicile state that will give a maximum ROI on RV insurance, RV Extended Warranty/roadside assistance, and, of courses, personal income taxes.

We are both retiring Government employees, so the affordable care act does not affect us (thank goodness!) so health insurance is not in our domicile calculus.

Any advice you would care to offer is deeply appreciated!

[BillAdams]

Your choices will likely be FL, TX and SD.  TX and SD tags are much more expensive than FL but FL has some taxes the other States do not so you should look at your particular situation and compare these locations.  The 3 States do not have any State income tax.  If you plan to trade coaches in the future SD tax is only 3% of the difference vs. 6% for TX and FL.  Little things can make a big difference so check out all the differences.

[tbutler]

We were in South Dakota for about ten years, finally put a mobile home on a lot in Texas so we are there now... 

South Dakota was convenient for us and the tax and voting situations were easy to deal with.  We worked with My Home Address in Emery, SD.  Very small community, even in the county seat they were familiar with the RV lifestyle.  A regular driver's license is good for any motor home, Class A, B or C, diesel or gas.  That translated into a Class B in Texas with no test, written or driving.  We voted in state and national elections, renewed our vehicle licenses, etc. without having to visit the state.  We did have to return every 5 years to renew our driver's license, a minor inconvenience easily incorporated into our regular travels as it could be done for a long period of time before the renewal was due.  Most of all, we were dealing with a small office, they knew us when we called.  We would request mail sent to a small post office a week or so in advance and then pick it up at that location either en-route or at a destination.  Small post offices were recommended because of the ease of finding them and their ability to locate your mail easily.  Use the USPS web site to get details of which post offices handle general delivery mail.  In larger metropolitan areas, usually there is one post office that handles general delivery mail.  In ten years, we had only a handful of snafus with our mail.

We have wintered in Texas ever since retiring in 2001.  That is why we chose to put our home in Texas.  Vehicle registration is significantly higher in Texas, property taxes are low - though we had no property taxes when we were full timing out of South Dakota. Texas does require a special driver's license if your motor home is over 26,000 pounds GVWR.  It is helpful if your regular travels will take you to or near your state of domicile though it can be done mostly without being in the chosen state.  We followed advice from references we consulted that strongly recommended that everything be done in one state, driver's license, registration, voting, mail, etc.  We had our estate papers drawn up in South Dakota and when we moved to Texas had the same done there.  If you start to divide up these items, you open yourself up to challenges to the legality of any or all of them.  More a problem for your heirs than for you should that become a factor.

There are a number of web sites with advice for choosing your state of domicile.  Previous discussions on this forum can be found using the search box at the top of this page.  Look for references that give you a comparison of a variety of states.  Alaska, Nevada, Vermont are a few others that offer advantages to those who chose them for a domicile.  You may need to consider estate laws and how it would affect your heirs.