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Old 06-23-2010, 03:37 AM   #1
Champ_49
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SD or TX Domicile

Lets make this simple as possibly as I am a very simple person lol. What is your opinions on where to go for your domicile? I keep reading and keep getting more and more confused as to which way to go. Need some help from the seasoned veterans of fulltiming. We are now living the lifestyle, but have many loose ends that need to be taken care of, and this is one.

Thanks in advance
Dave
 
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Old 06-23-2010, 05:37 AM   #2
JimF
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We use Escapees in Texas, it gives us an address for Drivers License, Voting, Mail Forwarding, etc., also Texas has no state income tax. Down side is that vehicles require an annual inspection so it dictates a pass through there on an annual basis. Also it may be a little higher insurance wise than SD, don't really know. We have been using it for 3 plus years and have never had a problem. We (wife and I both) have received jury summons, a call to the court and they take you off right away since your an Escapee. It works for us. Good luck on your decision and full timing.
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Old 06-23-2010, 05:44 AM   #3
richfaa
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we are not full timers and do not use Sd or Livingston, tx as a address..However..If we were to chose a domicile address it would be Escapee's and Livingstone, Tx.. They seem to be better set up and orientated toward the full timer.
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Old 06-23-2010, 05:47 AM   #4
ols1932
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by JimF

We use Escapees in Texas, it gives us an address for Drivers License, Voting, Mail Forwarding, etc., also Texas has no state income tax. Down side is that vehicles require an annual inspection so it dictates a pass through there on an annual basis. Also it may be a little higher insurance wise than SD, don't really know. We have been using it for 3 plus years and have never had a problem. We (wife and I both) have received jury summons, a call to the court and they take you off right away since your an Escapee. It works for us. Good luck on your decision and full timing.
I must jump in here. You DO NOT have to have an annual inspection unless you are in the state at the time your annual inspection is due. We've been out of the state as long as two years and did not have to have an inspection. When we went back after being out of the state for two years, we had our vehicles inspected. That's one reason I like Texas and it seems there is a misunderstanding about the inspection process.

Orv
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Old 06-23-2010, 05:58 AM   #5
dandt
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We choose SD as a resident when we went fultime. Used Rapid City as closer to west coast...America's Mailbox is a GREAT mail forwardng company. It is owned by a full-time RVer so he understands what we need. Super simple to use and affordable. DL are $8.00p/p. Insurance for full-timer style on rig 07 3400 and 2500 diesel chevy is 1150$ per year. Tags on both rigs were $181. We were originally Califoria residents, much cheaper in SD. SD is also a non-state income tax state, sales tax is only 3% when you are ready to buy new...and other than DL, America's Mailbox will do everything for you ia fax or mail. Hope this info helps. Teresa
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Old 06-23-2010, 10:21 AM   #6
ols1932
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Another thing to consider when selecting a mail forwarding service is are the people bonded. And what are the odds that they will be there long time? Sometimes a two-man operation can be gone overnight. Select carefully.

Orv
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Old 06-23-2010, 11:20 AM   #7
Countryfolks
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We don't fulltime either but may I suggest you make a list of things that confuse or interest you and make a side by side comparasion on the way each state handles each issue. Your travel plans/habits and the effects of the location of the address should probably be included also.

Then again, don't worry about it. Y'all are movers now, pick a state and if it doesn't work out, change.
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Old 06-23-2010, 04:01 PM   #8
bob n pam
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We chose SD 7 years ago. We use Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls and have found them to be very reliable.
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Old 06-24-2010, 03:02 AM   #9
adelmoll
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We are like Bob & Pam... Five years with Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls.. They have been great. The fact that we do go back to South Dakota every year to see family and think the State is beautiful helped make that decision real easy for us.


Helen
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Old 06-24-2010, 03:38 AM   #10
Champ_49
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Thanks for the info. I may be worrying about more than I should on a decision. But sometimes, you just need to make sure before you make a move and not be sorry for it later. I see now that SD or TX has its own ways, Both seem to be a safe move. So now I put both up on a dart board and see what happens lol. Not really, will research for my particular needs and go from there. Once again thank you all.

Dave
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Old 06-24-2010, 09:20 AM   #11
Phyllen
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We started fulltiming in Feb. We thought Texas was the way to go. We are Escapees members and they do provide a benefit to fulltimers. However, I do wish we had investiagted more before. We made very costly mistakes.

We first domiciled to Texas. A month and a half later we changed to SD. I will breakdown our costs.

My Medicare supplment F in Texas 136 a month. 92 in SD.
Truck insurance on the F250 in Texas - 1344 a year. SD - 494 a year.
Fifthwheel insurance in Texas - 1315 a year. SD - 555 a year.
Cost of registering the truck and fiver first year in Texas - 534. Cost in SD 202.

After having SD fiver insurance only 5 weeks we had to put in a claim. They paid out almost 11,000. We are very satisfied with both National Interstate and the agent.

We use MyHomeAddress in Emery as mail forwarding service. Jury out on whether we will continue with them after the first year. We did stop in to meet them when we went to Mitchell to get drivers licenses. Only need to go to SD for drivers license, rest can be done thru mail, etc.

My advice - PLEASE get insurance quotes from both Texas and SD BEFORE many any decision. DO NOT make the same mistake we made. After putting out money needlessly, we cut our losses and changed.

As previous noted, there is no vehicle inspection in SD. Cost of get both truck and fiver inspected in Texas was reasonable - $31.
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Old 06-24-2010, 03:01 PM   #12
ols1932
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Wow! Our F-250 insurance in Texas is $794/yr and our 5th wheel insurance is $550/yr. We are with Progressive through Poliseek RV Insurance. Yes it does pay to get quotes before making any move. One of the prime reasons we went with Texas is that I didn't want to have the possibility of having to be in SD in January!

Orv
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Old 06-25-2010, 03:43 AM   #13
adelmoll
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If you should get a call notice for jury duty in Sioux Falls (I don't know about the rest of SD), there is a place on the back that says "If you are a rv'er and not in the area. check here."

Helen
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Old 06-26-2010, 10:13 AM   #14
sreigle
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Before fulltiming we lived in Kansas. Our choices for our fulltiming residence included Florida, Texas, South Dakota. For us, South Dakota was closer to go to for getting everything set up.

Here's our reasons for choosing SD other than that they were closer.

1. No state income tax.

2. No inheritance tax.

3. No sales tax on vehicles (cars, trucks, rv's) but you do pay a 3% excise tax on the trade DIFFERENCE.

4. Third cheapest insurance rates in the country.

5. State staff in the courthouses are very friendly, helpful, and oriented and well set up for rv'ers. They recognized our new address and commented on it then helped us through it all.

6. No vehicle inspections of any kind at any time.

7. Have been able to handle renewal of tags and registration of trade vehicles by mail and/or online or phone. Even got a call once from the Treasurer's office telling me I forgot to include my credit card number (we had traded Montanas) and they took the info by phone.

8. Alternative Resources has been outstanding for our mail service and for providing information we need to know.

9. It's easy to set up voting by absentee ballot without having to make an appearance other than when we first registered.

10. Renewal of drivers license every five years does require my presence in South Dakota any time within six months prior to expiration. That is required by Homeland Security for all states although some are still implementing that. The nice thing is we can go to any courthouse in the state when they are doing the exams. Last time we just went to the closest county and were done and out of there in 20 minutes.

We originally drove to Sioux Falls, got a motel overnight, then started the process around 8 a.m. the next morning. We were done and on our way home before noon. In that time we arranged our mail setup, changed our vehicle insurance (our company did not sell in South Dakota), registered to vote, arranged for absentee ballots, got our drivers licenses (no driving test required), registered our vehicles and got our license plates.

I cannot say South Dakota is any better than the others because I have no firsthand experience with the others. I will say, however, that it was extremely easy and has been a very satisfactory experience for us for this past seven years. And we don't have to do any kind of vehicle inspections. And we have cheaper insurance rates. I happen to like those things!

---ORV--- in South Dakota you can renew your drivers license up to SIX months in advance. It's very nice weather there in the Fall! And the expiration of your new license is still five years from that next birthday. No penalty for renewing early although you cannot renew more than six months in advance. Vicki and I are thus able to renew at the same time (October and February birthdays). And you can go to any county in SD to renew. Just check the schedules as some of the smaller counties do DL's only one day per week or two.

---Phyllen--- If you decide you're not happy with Emory, I recommend Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls. We've used them for more than seven years. If you go with them, please tell them we recommended them to you. www.alternativeresources.net
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Old 06-26-2010, 01:08 PM   #15
ols1932
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Steve, that would leave me out because my birthday is in March. That would mean we would have to be in SD in September, but with family reunions the first week in August every year and then church work the latter part of August in Illinois and Indiana and a yearly church conference in Midland, MI the third week in September, we wouldn't be able to make it. Texas also allows us to renew six months in advance of the expiration date of driver's license.


Orv
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Old 06-26-2010, 04:07 PM   #16
Parrothead
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We echo all of Steve's comments. Alternative Resources even checks our mail for us when our vehicle tags are due to be there so we can schedule our mail to include them. They are super. The only thing that took a little longer than Steve's experience was my handicap tag. Had to see a Doctor there and go back to DMV but by then we knew where it was and where to park. Five minutes and we were done, even gave me two in case one was lost or damaged. We recommend the process highly.
Happy trails..................
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Old 06-27-2010, 03:54 AM   #17
adelmoll
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Orv. My birthday is March 29th and we were a long way from SD on Sept 30th, the first day I could renew early.. I called the Pierre Office in December from Florida and they mailed me a form to sign giving me a one year extension on the renewal.. You just carry the extension slip along with your expired license.. We stopped in Sioux Falls on our way back to Minnesota in May and I paid my $20.00, took an eye test and had my picture taken.. I walked out with my new license within 20 minutes...

I sure am not knocking the Escapee address... We are proud to be Escapee's and have made several lifetime friends because of their wonderful organization and have been to Livingston several times. We chose Sioux Falls and Alternative Resources for the same reason Steve R did..
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Old 06-28-2010, 11:15 AM   #18
sreigle
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Helen, thanks for that information. I was not aware of the DL extension.

Orv, yes, that would put you going to SD from late Sep to late Mar. Actually, October should be very nice there and part of November. The latter part of March would be doable, too.

But even though we chose South Dakota because it's best for us, that doesn't mean I think it's best for everyone. Texas and Florida are certainly the best choice for many others. The best choice is what works best for you.
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Old 06-28-2010, 03:08 PM   #19
adelmoll
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I can't help but add here that even though many have Florida and we actually own property in Florida, the gains that we would have by being able to get a homestead on our property did not outweigh the 3% registration on our new Big Sky or the car that we bought last year.. Of course if we stay in Florida longer than 6 months, we will follow the law and change our residency to that state and pay whatever the law requires.... After all, every state needs to do what they have to do.. We are not trying to avoid taxes but when we are on the road a few months in several states we will try for the one that costs us less and one that we really would like to return to...

Helen
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