Question South Dakota/Florida Residency?

[mainer]

We have a stick built home and next year plan on being long timers. From what I have read here and online that if you are out of the state for more than six months and set up residency in another state you will not be considered a resident in the state where the stick built home is. In our case it will be more of a vacation home to come to a few months a year.

I have seen quite a bit of information about South Dakota residency but not much about Florida, wondering why? We are trying to decide which state would be more beneficial to us tax wise and also insurances. Any recommendations on insurance companies?

With the mail forwarding services it seems that you can easily setup residency in either state and not have to be in the state for an extended period of time, an address will be provided to you.

Would appreciate hearing what others have done in this situation.

Thanks,
Marge

[adelmoll]

When we went full time we chose Sioux Falls, SD (Alternative Resources) for our domicile. It was a huge savings for us.. No State Taxes, 3% tax on new vehicles and RV compared to 7-8% sales tax in other states including Florida. Auto/fulltimers RV insurance was about 1/2 of what we were paying in Minnesota before selling our place.. They have a great mail forwarding service that bend over backwards for us.. This year we changed our domicile to Florida for medical reasons (we own property there and spend about 7 months).. Everything doubled...Still no sales tax but insurances doubled even though we are still with the same insurance company. We still use the mail forwarding services of Alternative Resources so we do not have to keep changing address's when we are traveling. Texas also is a great state to register (Escapees.com) but I don't think you will save as much as you do in South Dakota..

Helen

[mainer]

Helen,
Thanks, I have seen some information on the forum about South Dakota, but never Florida. We are trying to get as much knowledge as possible before we make our decision and establish domicile in another state.

Marge

quote:Originally posted by adelmoll

When we went full time we chose Sioux Falls, SD (Alternative Resources) for our domicile. It was a huge savings for us.. No State Taxes, 3% tax on new vehicles and RV compared to 7-8% sales tax in other states including Florida. Auto/fulltimers RV insurance was about 1/2 of what we were paying in Minnesota before selling our place.. They have a great mail forwarding service that bend over backwards for us.. This year we changed our domicile to Florida for medical reasons (we own property there and spend about 7 months).. Everything doubled...Still no sales tax but insurances doubled even though we are still with the same insurance company. We still use the mail forwarding services of Alternative Resources so we do not have to keep changing address's when we are traveling. Texas also is a great state to register (Escapees.com) but I don't think you will save as much as you do in South Dakota..

Helen

[mail2us]

Florida has Sales Tax but no state income tax. Auto insurances are higher in Fla compared to many states due to high retirement population. You do receive Homestead Exemption on real estate property you own but I believe there is a time period before you are eligible. Florida recently raised auto tag fees considerably but may be more in line with northern states. It used to be much cheaper. I have been a resident of Florida most of my life. Sunshine costs alot more today in the Sunshine state!

[sreigle]

That 3% excise tax Helen mentioned for new vehicle purchase in South Dakota is on the trade difference, not on the full price.

[Champ_49]

I just went through the process in SD. It was relatively simple and done in about 6 hrs. Could have been quicker but had a little glitch. When they say proof of name change you need all your name changes. Meaning that if you have been married more than once you need to also have the first marriage certificate, and the divorce, then the second marriage as proof of all name changes. The person checking us in said she had a lady that had been married 7 times, what a nightmare that would have been. All we had to do was go back to CG and get my wifes paperwork and all was well. Thankfully we had that paperwork with us.

Now with that being done, we called our insurance company to change address and our agent in MI. said he could no longer help us. That we would have to get an agent in SD through AAA, and he didn't know if there was one. I already had Progressive for the fiver, so just added my two vehicles to that policy until we have time to investigate a better situation. In over all we saved a little on the two vehicles but the fiver went up $200.00 approx. for 6 mos. The lady said it was due to SD having a vacation package that must be added. Like I said will do some more investigating on this.

Good luck on your choice.

Dave