Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
How does the Montana LLC work? Has anyone on this forum done it who would be willing to answer a few questions? First of all, do you have to set up a domicile in Montana to do it? Does the RV have to be purchased in Montana?
I don't think you have to be a resident there but you do have to have a Resident Agent that lives in Montana in order to fulfill all the legal requirements of the LLC in Montana. THere are people that provide Resident Agent services in every state, just research it on the internet. One quick question, why Montana and not somewhere else. LLC's have yearly requirements that differ from state to state. The best when it comes to minimal filing is a New Mexico LLC where you do not have to submit yearly filings on revenues, etc, if you had none, other states require you to file every year no matter what and at a cost....people use the NM LLC in order to protect their privacy a bit more and register their vehicles, etc under the LLC.
Thanks for the info about LLCs. I was unaware of the whole LLC thing until I read a forum comment about the Montana LLC. I guess I thought it was something specific to Montana. Yours is exactly the kind of information I need to make intelligent, informed decisions. Thanks!! -Mike
One quick question, why Montana and not somewhere else. LLC's have yearly requirements that differ from state to state. .
For RVers the allure of Montana LLC's is wrapped around Sales Tax and Property Tax. If your buying an RV where the Sales tax is going to be significant, and or, you live in a state with a Property Tax that is applied to RV's, and or you live in an extremely high insurance cost state a Montana LLC may be for you.
Now with everything there is risk vs reward.
Rewards -
You buy the RV through the Montana LLC and pay no sales tax and pay no Property Tax and likely can get your insurance cheaper though this is almost never a primary motivator.
OK with all that it's a no brainer pay the less then 200 bucks to get the LLC remember to do your filing every year and boom no Property taxes and for a full timer this may very well be the end of it.
But for the person who still has a sticks and bricks or who spends a lot of time in one place there is a risk.
There are several States who have "cracked" down on Montana registered RV's that spend enough time in those states to require local registration. In most of the cases I'm aware of it's been home owners in the states who then went the LLC route.
The states go after Sales Tax, Property Tax, Registration fees, plus penalties and interest on all this. Colorado, Oregon, and California have all done this. Heck California has a whole public campaign to encourage people to report neighbors who have vehicles registered out of state (or did when we were there in 2009).
As a full timer who moves around I would consider it now. As someone who bought their fifth wheel while living in PA and knowing it would be parked in that state for a while paid the 6 percent sales tax.
Thanks for the additional info, Mallo. We will be on the move as full-timers. Our plan is to see as much of the US and Canada as we can. We do not own any real estate at this time. We've been sailing outside of the US for the last 5 years. When we left, we sold our home in California and established domicile in Nevada because of no State income tax. But they have high insurance rates, high sales tax and assess personal property taxes on vehicles. When we return, we want to choose a domicile with no State income tax. And we want to buy our RV without paying Sales Tax or Personal Property Tax if possible, and also keep the insurance payment as low as possible. Thanks for your insights. -Mike
I believe Howard posted on this topic a couple of years ago. I don't think there would be a problem if you are setting up Montana as your domicle but I believed he cautioned people that had residences in other states and were using the Montana LLC as a tax dodge to the states where they lived. Many peope have done this, some have been caught. Where it might legal in Montana, as someone else mentioned, it may not be considered legal everywhere.
__________________
Allan, Jeanne and Katie the cat Full-timers from Alabama "07 -40' Phaeton & '08 Jeep Liberty
Thanks, Allan - We don't want to do anything illegal! We will carefully consider where our home base should be, and if an LLC makes sense for us. Thanks again - Mike & Linda
Evin and I just sold our house and we ordered a new RV today. Working on ordering the new truck. We plan to travel as you discussed earlier in this post. Wonder if you did the Montana LLC and if you did, is it working for you?
Would appreciate comments from anyone else that has experience in these matters. It will be 8-10 weeks till we take delivery of the truck and RV. We will have no other residence and no employment.
Information on insurance is also needed. We were told to get a full replacement cost policy if possible since we are buying a new RV.
Hi Steve, We're still living on our boat. We haven't made the switch to an RV yet. But after all my research, we intend to establish South Dakota as our domicile when we do make the change. All the elements that apply to our situation point to So. Dakota as our best choice financially. The Montana LLC is now moot for us. Good luck! Mike and Linda
