Jeff:
Maryland also has a use tax instead of a sales tax, but they still honor the MT LLC.
And Joe, that brings up a VERY key point. We struggled with these issues mightily in 2005 when we lived in Maryland and were about to purchase our first motorhome and faced the 5% use (sales) tax. That amount can be considerable on a quarter of a million dollar purchase.
What we discovered is that you have to look at BOTH states in every situation. What applies for one non Montana state in relation to Montana will be different in the next non Montana state. The combinations and permutations are unbelievable. For example, in Indiana if you set up an LLC, but take factory delivery at one of the Indiana factories, Indiana will still try to get you for the tax. We wanted to take factory delivery but ended up having the coach delivered to Maryland in order to escape the Indiana tax !! ??
We could have done that using the LLC loophole and Maryland would have honored that. Other states like Illinois (a la Shayne and Jeff) will not.
In the end we simplified things a LOT by actually moving to Montana rather than get a Montana LLC. We took delivery of the coach in Maryland, AFTER we sold our house and obtained Montana residency and driver license. The state of Maryland will honor an out of state license and not charge sales (use) tax. You provide a copy to the dealer who forwards it to the DMV. You then have 60 days to get Montana tags. Maryland also requires that you can prove you did not live in Maryland for more than 6 months.
We do not actually own a home in Montana. We rent a lot that has full utilities. We provided Montana a receipt for electric service installation, a Kalispell bank account, and a physical address. PO Boxes will not be accepted.
Not recommending you avoid the LLC. Just trying to demonstrate one of the hundreds of variations from state to state.
Anyone who does not want to sell their house generally has only one other possibility and that is taking the LLC route. Most states will not honor a second Montana residence.
Someone in this thread mentioned the Bennett legal firm. They are very good. While we did not need their services in the end, we did contact them at no charge they sent us all the Maryland law documentation that applied to these issues. It was from that documentation, along with help from my own attorney, that we figured out how to move to Montana and take a Maryland delivery. In fact we then drove our coach from Maryland to our new Montana residence.
Another good resource for you is Bretts RV in Missoula. They are the largest Montana LLC dealer. People from all over the USA take delivery in Missoula and then drive their coaches to their home state. Bretts knows every in and out for every state and also can refer you to attorney service. You will more than pay for attorneys and airline flight to Missoula by taking the LLC route... IF THE ATTOERNIES CAN VERIFY YOUR HOME STATE WILL ACCEPT THE LLC LOOPHOLE!
Good luck. The savings are well worth the hard work. But do not take anything for granted.