Choosing a State of Domicile
Now that your home is on wheels, you may feel like a nomad with no place that you can call home. However, you still must have a home base when you RV full-time. Not only will it help you emotionally to know you have a home base that you can go back to, but you may also need a place to call home in order to receive your mail, for filing income taxes, for maintaining RV and/or Auto Insurance or Medical Insurance, etc.
Even after you have sold everything you owned, pulled up all your roots and headed off into the sunset, if you don't declare a state for your legal residency, it may be decided for you. You have the option to choose a state that has some economic advantages, but you must take some steps in advance to show that it really was your intention to make that state your domicile, even though you may not spend much time there.
Different states have different advantages. Some states offer economic relief from state income taxes. Others may offer the advantage of low vehicle registration fees. Others may not have sales tax. You must weight the advantages and disadvantages and choose just one state for your legal residence and take the appropriate steps for meeting the residency requirements for that state. Different states have different requirements for proving residency.
Because making the decision of where to set up your State of Domicile requires some thought. We have put together some links to some articles that were written by others that you might find helpful in this process. You need to know what effect full-timing might have on your tax situation, your automobile and medical insurance.
There are lots of other considerations when full-timing. How will you get your mail and communicate with the outside world. The cell phone has done much to eliminate the problem of staying connected, but getting your mail can still be a problem. If you don't want to burden a relative with the chore of taking care of your mail and forwarding it to you, there are lots of Mail Forwarding services out there that are designed with the needs of the full-time RVer in mind.
Some Mail Forwarding Services can even help you out with solving the problem of establishing a State of Domicile, others may provide you with helpful information about their state's requirements for residency. The Escapees RV Club provides a Mail Forwarding Service and offers a very helpful booklet about How to Become a Real Texan. Even if you don't wish to make Texas your domicile, this article is worth reading as it offers lots of insights into the process of choosing a domicile.
Here are some other articles worth reading:
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