Home, Home on the Road

Home is where you hang your Hat

They say home is where your heart is, or where you hang your hat. I guess both of those sayings can be true. But what about your DOMICILE? My what? Domicile.

 As per my trusty Merriam Webster,

( Place where an individual has a fixed and permanent home for legal purposes. The domicile of an individual or organization determines the proper jurisdiction and venue for legal process, including taxation.)

Fixed and permanent home for legal purposes, kind of has a pretty legal ring to. And for good reason. When you are fulltiming and are foot loose and fancy free to travel the country just about anyplace can be called home. But, hold your horses. You can run but you can't hide from Uncle Sam or the states that he has control over, which at last count was ALL OF THEM.

You must declare one state as your domicile. This is the state you will register your RV in, register your tow or towed vehicle in, buy insurance for said vehicles in, don't forget to renew your driver's license every 4 to 8 years. And a whole bunch of other things that we all have to do from time to time.

But wait! Not all states are the same. No siree. There are three states that seem to be a little better than all the rest. South Dakota, Texas, and Florida. I don't want to start a fight here, So what I mean by better is. These three states have no income tax, low registration fees for vehicles and RV's, lower insurance, depending on what part of the state you register,

Of course you will want to research each of these three states to see which one best fits your individual needs. One might have lower fees than the others, or longer times before you need to renew tags, or licenses. One might excuse you from jury duty while anther says you need to get here no matter what. All of this is discussed every day on the many different RV Forums that are out there. Just goggle Domicile Forums and sit back and prepare yourself for information overload. You can even buy a book that has all of the information laid out for you so all you need to do is pick which state you like.

Of course one thing that you don't find much discussion about is convenience. South Dakota, Texas and Florida are all pretty much the same when it comes to the things I've talked about already. The cost of doing business will be pretty much the same across these three states. Prices will differ a little here and there but I don't believe they play that much into the total picture. Let's say you spend most of your time traveling the south and southwest. Does it make much sense to drive all the way to South Dakota just to renew your driver's license? What I mean is, try to make the best decision that works for you. Barb and I have family in Ohio and Florida. Which means we will most likely make our domicile Florida not just because of the cost of different services that we will be needing but for the convenience of seeing family while there to do business. And its just a short run up I-75 to visit family in Ohio. I think we will be spending most of our time in the south and southwest so this seems like it will work best for us.

Most of this domicile stuff can be kind of confusing. There are plenty of things you as an individual must decide for yourself. Nobody can make these kinds of decisions for you. My best advice to you, and remember you get what you paid for. Take your time and weigh all the information and then make the best financial and convenient decision that works for you. Until next time.

Safe Travels and I'll see You down the Road.