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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Deciding Domiciles

This will be a busy week. We have all of the doctor’s appointments scheduled for this week. In addition to these appointments I visited my hairdresser this morning for a cut and highlight. It is always nice to return to the person that has been doing your hair and you just sit down and relax.

The weather has been just beautiful. This is the way we like it. It has been sunny with temps ranging from lows of 45 to highs of 71. However, today we are expecting some rain.

We have been busy getting our ducks in a row for claiming a domicile. As you know, most full-timers claim a state domicile which is where they are registered to vote, pay taxes, have a driver’s license and a mail forwarding service. The MOST popular choices seem to be Texas and South Dakota as well as Florida. There are many reasons for choosing a particular state but one thing these three have in common is no state income tax which means a little extra money at the end of the month. They also offer lower taxes on our vehicles. We had originally decided to go with S. Dakota simply because you don’t have the hassle of obtaining a Class B license to drive the motorhome. In Texas, if your motorhome GVWR is over 26,001 pounds you must obtain a Class B license. However, upon further investigation, we have decided that Texas is our choice. It’s all about the money actually. When we purchased our motorhome we bought from a private individual and in Georgia you don’t have to pay sales tax if you buy from an individual….so we didn’t. In S. Dakota we would have to pay that sales tax and that would mean an extra $2,560 dollars to pay out. We also like the umbrella of having the Escapees organization for support. We will use them for our mail forwarding service which will give us an actual physical address. Texas has been proven all the way to the Supreme Court as a legal domicile. So armed with this information Mike downloaded the DMV study booklet and is busy preparing for his big exam. I won’t have to take the test and drive the rig but Mike will. Neither of us is worried about the driving test….if he can’t drive the motorhome we are both in big trouble. So we have crossed another hurdle in this lifestyle. We have chosen Texas as our domicile and in a few weeks we should be “Real Texans”…… well that is unless jello happens.

Nothing earthshaking, nothing overly exciting just a day in the life……life is good.

7 comments:

  1. This is all very interesting to us Gerri, thanks for sharing. We have yet to cross the full time bridge so its good to see/learn up front what others have done.

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  2. Good for you... Isn't it good making such a good decision.... Ours is Florida simply because it is where we both grew up. And our family is there too. Have a great day and I hope all your drs appointments turn out good! Have fun & travel safe.
    Donna

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  3. i love hair day!!!..hope you had a good one and here's to being paper Texans!!...us being from Canada we need to figure out what we are going to do when our turn comes!!

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  4. Hi 'yall. That's Texas talk. LOL Congratulations on making the big decision on where you want to "live". One more thing ticked off your list of things to do!!

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  5. We will also become Texans in the near future and chose it for many of the same reasons. I will be following your progress and learning from you. Hope all goes smoothly!
    -Connie

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  6. Congratulations! We look forward to havin' ya'll as "neighbors" there on Rainbow Drive!

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  7. Thanks for the timely information on Texas, Since Sam already has a class B CDL and drives a motor coach, that is one hurdle he won't have to jump. I will be looking into the Escapee's also Thanks again this is how we are learning before leaving. Sam & DOnna.

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