I have a question for those that are MUCH more experienced than I! First, we are military and are stationed in Georgia. Our state of residency is Missouri. (I don't know if that even makes a difference!) While we were vacationing in our OLD RV over the holidays in Missouri, we traded our old RV in for a brand new one. (My husband's idea, NOT mine! LOL!). Anyway, here we are in Georgia, and STILL have no licensing or stuff for the RV. Partly because we have been so busy and haven't been on any trips, and partly because like an idiot, I let my Power of Attorney expire and we can't seem to coordinate our schedules to update. My uncle says that we will be nailed with paying taxes. He said in some RV magazines that there is a way that we can do something through Montana (I think) that we would not have to pay taxes. Does anyone know if this is accurate? Should we try and get it licensed in Missouri? Not sure how to even do that. Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated on this! It's starting to warm up here in Georgia, so we are getting the itch to travel some more! Thanks! Kathy
Dutchess: You can register and title a new motorhome in Montana and escape sales taxes under certain conditions (as a Montana corporation). However, since you have already purchased the motorhome in another state, I do not know if you can re-title it in Montana right away and achieve this same result. There are several sites you can go on to get more information, including www.RVLLC.com and www.rvtax.com but, given the uniqueness of your situation, I would call a Montana attorney for a definitive answer. The most establish firm in handling RV registration in Montana appears to be the Bennett Law Firm. You can call John Bennett, Thad Brinkman, or Alain Burrese at 866-543-5803. Good luck!
Sorry, I can't help you with your tax question, but ponder this one. Personally know of a California resident, who purchased a new motor home in Montana, to avoid the California taxes, and could not register, (license), the motor home in Montana as He was not a resident. Now just think about this one. He proceeded to drive this motor home, with licensed toad, from Montana to upstate New York unlicensed. Did not get stopped, and or questioned in all those miles. Well over three thousand. This person is a business owner, and put all his property and wealth in jeopardy if anything had happened, accident, etc. P.S. He did license the motor home in the State of New York upon arrival at his business and summer home.
Look into South Dokota. You can get a PO box there, and register it there. (I have heard), tax free. Food for thought: I know that we all want to save money, but tax dollars provide the public withsome very helpfull things. It is hard to complain about the quality of services you do/ or do not get when you go out of your way to avoid paying for them! JMHO, I mean no disrespect to anyone.
I'm not sure how much tax you are talking about, but would doubt that it is enough to set up a dummy corporation in Mont. If you were dealing with a few hundred thousand dollar MH it might pay. South Dakota is income tax free not sales tax free. You should have a bill of sale and a statement of origin. I would think that would allow you to get your plates in Georgia.
Duchessofall, As indicated by the first 3 replies to your query, there appear to be a lot of different reasons and requirements for licensing your RV in another state. I may be wrong, but my understanding was that you had to buy your RV in Montana to take advantage of their no sales tax situation. Calling one of the numbers Beastmaster suggested makes sense. Additionally, and I may be way off on this one, I thought the South Dakota situation had to do with fulltimers with no permanent residence using a SD mailing address to avoid state income taxes. Jerry S.
Thanks to all that offered ideas/suggestions. After looking into the Montana thing, and speaking with them--we would still have to pay approx. $1500 (to set up the holdings and registration fees.) Not knowing if that is totally 100% legal, and not wanting to jeopardize anything with my husband's career (the Army controls EVERY aspect of our lives... ), we will just go the legal route here in GEORGIA and pay the taxes. Our RV has just been sitting since January, and the weather is getting nicer, so we are getting the itch to travel. I think just paying the sales tax is the most easiest route for us... Thanks again--it's great knowing that there is a huge wealth of knowledge we can get from this forum. Kathy
Another thought is writing off the sales tax as a deduction from your federal income tax return. Schedule E part 3 I think it is where that would go. No forms required from the RV seller. It's not as good as not paying any sales tax, but at least you get some of your income tax back. If you are a do it yourselfer, I recommend TurboTax and save the accountant's fees.
duchessofall> I am a retired military SM who had at one time also been stationed in GA, but with home of record in another one. As active duty military, it is legal to register in either state even if your driver’s license is from the other one. Pick the one that has no, or the cheapest, property tax. You’ll get credit for having paid sales tax regardless of which state it was in. If the registered owner of the vehicle is the recipient of the Purple Heart, it will cost nothing to annually register the vehicle. That applies to only one vehicle per household. The suggestion that you take a tax deduction is valid. It falls into the ‘second home’ category. AD service members don’t have to get a GA license if the home of record is in another state, but that DMV law ALSO applies to the spouse while you are stationed there. If your husband can use the RV for TDY travel, he will be reimbursed for all camping expenses plus get close to fifty cents a mile on the distance traveled. Nice chuck of change there. You are correct on the comment about it not being worth jeopardizing the career. However, I don’t think the military controls EVERY aspect of your lives. They don’t make you do PT at zero-dark-30…… yet. Rick
