Want to relocate to Florida or Arizona for weather and tax breaks but

[RVoorhis318]

We don't want to sell our home in CT because we love the summers in New England and the camping. My question is this, is anyone doing this and using the winter home as a full time residence and if so how can you do it legally without keeping a log book and every receipt from the other state. Ive read if you stay longer than 6 months you can become a resident but CT isn't going to want to give up on all the taxes they like to charge us easily. How do we do this the right way, any advice?

Thanks

Rob

 

[SeilerBird]

If you own a home in CT, you have a drivers licence in CT, you register your vehicles in CT and you are registered to vote in CT then all you are doing is taking a long vacation every year. CT should not know anything about it. I would not worry if this is the case.

 

[Tom Hoffman]

Rob,  are either of you working or planning on working in either state?  My wife worked as a traveling nurse and we stayed in Yuma AZ for 6-7 months.  We paid no state income tax on her Yuma earnings, we did pay Iowa income tax on her summer earnings when she worked as a traveler in an Iowa hospital 90 miles from our home we put our trailer on a camp spot close to the hospital and went there 3 days a week and back home 4 days and left the trailer for the summer.  The receipts and the log book are really not that onerous, If neither of you are working, it probably isn't a big deal at least in AZ which wants snow birds,you are not going to automatically become AZ residents. 

We just pay our regular property tax to county in the state of Iowa and keep our vehicles reg in Iowa and pay state income tax on any earnings in Iowa.  One year we had to pay income tax in 5 different states.  get some advice from a tax attorney, if you are that unsure.

Tom...

 

[MTPockets]

We moved to Florida in 2005 and still had a house in Indiana.  We became FL residents, changed license, auto tags, registration and everything else to the FL home address.  The IN house then became the vacation home until we sold it. 

 

[Rstrahan]

Check out the Escapees website.  They sponsor domiciles for RVers.  If you register your cars, get a permanent mail address, register to vote, as the prior poster said, you are a resident of Texas, Florida, wherever.  Now Texas and Florida don't have income taxes and don't tax RVs. 

 

[Lou Schneider]

You can be a resident of multiple states, but you are only domiciled in one.  Your domicile is the location you intend to return to when you're done traveling.

There are multiple items that go into determining domicile, but having only one house and keeping it for your own use (as opposed to using it for rental income) is a pretty strong indication that you intend to return there when you're done traveling.  The person you have to convince is the CT tax collector, not the people in your new state.

By all means take a look at Escapees, they've dealt these issues for their members on a nationwide basis for many years.  But as long as you keep returning to your only house in CT, it will be hard to prove you've moved away from there and into another state.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

You would need to shift most of your usual legal connections to the other state, e.g. driver license, vehicle tags, etc. and establish "domicile" there formally. Florida has a document you can file that states your intention that Florida is your legal home.  As Lou says, since you will be retaining property in CT, your problem is to convince the CT tax people that you have changed your domicile from CT to FL (or wherever). Obviously you still owe property taxes in CT, but you may be able to establish that you owe no income tax to CT when outside the state.  That is driven solely by CT's own tax laws and not what any other state may say. If you own property in CT and send several months a year there, it may not be possible to legally avoid their various taxes.You may be able to prorate them, though, based on residency there vs elsewhere.

CT is tough on income tax. Some years ago I helped with income tax filing for a friend who worked part time in CT. He owned no CT property and had no vehicles registered there, but still ended up paying substantial CT taxes on all his income, including a pension from outside the state. He worked in CT for 5 months, so CT law says they can collect 5/12 of a years taxes on all his income, regardless of source.

You probably need a tax advisor to give specific advice for your particular situation. Most likely a tax attorney rather than a tax accountant.

 

[OLDRACER]

A friend and Connecticut resident explained how you not only pay taxes on a MOTORHOME, for example, when you purchase but every year you own it. The state flag should have a skull and crossbones, in my opinion, but he sees no problem with it.

Must be WONDERFUL there!

 

[RVoorhis318]

Thanks for the input folks all good stuff as always! CT is a nice place to live but they beat you down with taxes, our tax bills come the first of June for July payments. 2 homes about 6K, my truck $650.00 annually based on book value, car 1 $225.00 car 2 1999 honda civic $125.00, RV 5th wheel $1000.00, a few more hundred for all business equipment, $250.00 business entity tax and a couple more things I can't think of right now because it gives me a headache. My hope is once we find the right home in the right active adult community my wifey will be more willing to part with the CT digs. Once again thank you and safe travels.

Rob

 

[Oscar Mike]

Thanks for the input folks all good stuff as always! CT is a nice place to live but they beat you down with taxes, our tax bills come the first of June for July payments. 2 homes about 6K, my truck $650.00 annually based on book value, car 1 $225.00 car 2 1999 honda civic $125.00, RV 5th wheel $1000.00, a few more hundred for all business equipment, $250.00 business entity tax and a couple more things I can't think of right now because it gives me a headache. My hope is once we find the right home in the right active adult community my wifey will be more willing to part with the CT digs. Once again thank you and safe travels.

Rob

Our State Business License went from $300.00 to over $600.00 this year, which doesn't include jurisdictional or professional license fees.

 

[kennyshark]

Wow That's insane! mind You, I don't have a big or nice house here in Texas but it's paid for, My property taxes are $750.00 a year but even when We had 3 properties with 3.5 acres they were about $1800.00 a year. Now We have some Friends who live in a suburb of Houston in a Nice/Big house and Their property taxes are about 6K a year so it is relative. Now My truck tags are 57.00 a year as are the camper and My little 5x8 utility trailer, go figure that out. There are no state taxes and if You live in Your RV You won't get taxed on that either, I am going to keep My house when I retire and live in Ohio June till' Oct. My buddy has 9 acres with all hookups. I'm looking forward to it!

 

[HappyWanderer]

A friend and Connecticut resident explained how you not only pay taxes on a MOTORHOME, for example, when you purchase but every year you own it. The state flag should have a skull and crossbones, in my opinion, but he sees no problem with it.

Must be WONDERFUL there!

You pay sales tax to the state upon purchase, and property tax (car tax) to your local municipality every year. Car tax is based on the local mill rate, so the tax bill for the same vehicle can be all over the board, depending on where you live. Property tax on our motorhome is about $300 annually; it would be about $1,200 for my sister who lives two towns away.

 

[RVoorhis318]

Crazy isn't it!!

 

[Rstrahan]

Nothing says you can't visit CT in the summer.  We have a lot of CT, NY, MI people move down here, then visit back up north.  Just watch the HOA regs when you buy.  Some can be absolutely stupid.  Just do your research.

We have a lot of Over-55 developments down here, homes from $150K to $400K depending on what you want.  But watch the taxes as well in these developments.  We were doing an appraisal and looked at the taxes, they were $7300 because of the CCD taxes (used to pay for the infrastructure).  A version of these exist in Texas as well. But are generally much lower. 

 

[SeilerBird]

I moved to Florida a few years ago and I could not be happier. Very few taxes because we have 50 million visitors a year paying them for us. The roads here are for the most part smooth as a babies butt. Housing here can be very cheap. My nephew bought a park model for $8000 cash and it is a nice place. Building is going on everywhere and the economy is booming. Many people don't like the heat and humidity but it suits me just fine. We are now in the dog days of summer and I am loving it.

 

[Dance Chick]

My hope is once we find the right home in the right active adult community my wifey will be more willing to part with the CT digs. Once again thank you and safe travels.

Rob

If you're talking about an active adult community with stick & brick homes (as opposed to an RV park), then come visit Lake Ashton in Lake Wales/Winter Haven, FL. That's where we live. We have RV homes with attached RV garages and non-RV homes. There's covered RV storage in the community. Come give us a visit!!!!

 

[wackymac]

X2 Seilerbird!

 

[jimpaar]

There are obvious advantages to becoming a Florida resident. The first, and most well-known, is?Florida has no state income tax.
Full-time RV living in Florida has become a lifestyle choice for increasing numbers of modern-day nomads and Florida is a popular destination. Improvements in RV amenities and the scarcity of affordable housing are a few of the reasons that some people take their home to the open road permanently. Since home-schooling options have become more widely available, even families with young children can be full-time RV residents. Improvements in technology have made it possible for full-time RV residents to telecommute, pay bills, and stay in touch with friends and family while on the road.
How do you become a Florida Resident?
A lot of identity verification rules have been put in place since we hit the road, adding some additional hoops to getting a driver?s license in any state. Which means you need to start your process a month or so before getting your driver?s license to make sure you have everything you need.
Here?s the steps we recommend after going through the process ourselves:
 Get quotes for your health and auto insurance and check into registration fees, so there will be no surprises.
 Establish your new domicile address at least a month before you anticipate applying for your driver?s license or ID card. Do your research as to which is best for you ? rates for insurance (vehicle & health) can vary widely at different zip codes. Vehicle insurance rates are very reasonable in Okaloosa County.
 I recommend Good Sam Mail Service https://www.goodsammailservice.com/ in Florida. They?ve been in business for many years serving the cruising, RVing and traveler communities, and we?ve heard nothing but glowing recommendations. They were easy to work with, sign-up was handled all online, and they provided all of the forms and instructions. They quickly answered our questions, including verifying that you could use our new address for our businesses without needing any additional occupancy license. Very impressed with their high tech scanning solution that actually lets you see the outside of incoming mail as soon as it arrives, and for a small extra fee they will even open your mail and scan the contents on request!
 As with any mail forwarding service, you?ll need to fill out a Postal Form 1583 http://about.usps.com/forms/ps1583.pdf to authorize the service to forward mail to you. The form must be notarized, and you must send copies of 2 forms of identification for each person along with it.
 Make sure your SSN card shows your name exactly as you want it to appear on your license.
 Start changing your address with banks, credit cards and insurance companies.

Why Florida over other states?
- Very little red tape in Florida making it an easy transition.
- Some of the most beautiful RV Resorts in the country.
- The obvious, no state income tax.
- Driver?s license is good for 8 years plus it?s easy to renew online wherever you?re at.
- No annual vehicle inspections like Texas. This is big because you have to move your RV to the inspection station every year.
- In Florida you only need a Class E driver?s license for any size RV. In some states you?ll need a special non-commercial Class A or B driver?s license.
- Florida is highly regarded by a few RV Club?s for mail forwarding ? Florida has far more resources for mail forwarding. 
- No pension tax in Florida
- No astronomical fees for vehicle registration, Florida is very reasonable.

 

[JW of Opechee Shores]

Rob: do what we did. We left RI for the same reason you state plus didn't want to take care of 3 acres of land, grass, plantings and apple trees. NH is still New England and can visit old friends in a couple of hours but no more income tax or sales tax, plus looking out at the lake and mountains is just as nice as looking out at the bay.

 

[John From Detroit]

In thinking about a state to live in in addition to Taxes and Insurance costs and how hard it is to get licensed and so on.. You also need to think about the political climate..

Alas Some politicians are looking to make life hard for us (No, I can't discuss which ones since that is not an issue I'm following all that close,  Other bigger issues are occupying my time just now)

That said. Flordia is still one of the states that allows Full Timers to "live" there.. So it should be considered.