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Best place to register new Airstream


HazNavy

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Background:  Active duty TX resident serving outside of TX getting ready to retire with > or = 60% disability in JULY 2019 purchasing a new to me, Airstream before retirement in the state of WA.  

*** Qualifying Statement***

I have looked on the internet for these answers but, don't think I am wording the question correctly to give me the answers I need.  

Question:  1).  Do I have to register the Airstream in WA?; 2). If not, where is the least financially impactful state to register (8.25% sales tax in WA for example)?; 3). For the veterans out there, what state offers "lifetime tags" for disabled vets?

Apologies if these are stupid questions and, thank you in advance.

Very Respectfully,

 

HazNavy

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If you are a Texas resident (i.e. have a Texas driver's license and your other vehicle(s) are registered in Texas), you do NOT have to register the Airstream in Washington. Many full-time RVers use Texas to establish and maintain their legal domicile, anyway. We are "Texans" and have purchased vehicles out of state and registered them in Texas by mail on two occasions. Just have the dealership do it for you through your Texas county tax office.

Rob

Edit/PS: I'm a veteran (retired) but not disabled, so I can't answer your question about lifetime tags. Sorry.

2012 F350 CC LB DRW 6.7
2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes, solar, DP windows
Full-time since 8/2015

 

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Welcome to the Escapee forums and thank you for serving! I didn't stay but 8 years but and exNavy too. 

Since you are already a TX resident I would suggest that you register the RV there. If you plan to go on the road full-time as many here do, TX is also one of the 3 most popular states for doing so. TX does not require you to spend any time physically in the state to be a resident, they do allow the use of a mail forwarding service for a legal address and they have no state income tax. They do have a 6.25% sales tax. They do not have a life license plate but I know of very few who do and none especially for disabled veterans. If you do not have a current TX address, you will need one and I suggest the Escapee mail service for that support. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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2 minutes ago, HazNavy said:

Sir,

Thank you very much for the information; I'm still going to be hit with an 8.25% sales tax if I purchase here.  

Verify that. Both times we've done this, we were charged the sales tax for the state of Texas - not where we purchased the vehicle.

Rob

2012 F350 CC LB DRW 6.7
2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes, solar, DP windows
Full-time since 8/2015

 

StatesVisited20210913_small.jpg

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4 hours ago, HazNavy said:

Thank you very much for the information; I'm still going to be hit with an 8.25% sales tax if I purchase here.  

California has a reputation for going after every last cent they can collect. Yet, when we bought an RV from a California dealer to be registered in South Dakota we did NOT pay CA sales Tax. The same was true for a car we bought in California.

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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Oregon works for me.  Originally from Oregon and own a home there so no issues with residency requirements.  Oregon has an income tax that can be around 9% but they don't touch my Navy retirement because it was all "earned" prior to 1991. Plus my VA agent orange related disability (what little there is) is not taxed by the state or federal.  Establishing residency in Oregon may be a problem - I think you must own property and pay local property taxes. 

No sales tax (yet).

Oregon does have a lifetime free vehicle registration or ONE vehicle for disabled veterans.  I use it for my MH and it saves me significantly.  Other vehicles are about $80 for two years.

In addition, they have a property tax exemption of about $40k for disable veterans (over 30% is memory serves correctly) and the State Park system offers 10 free nights a month to disabled veterans (regardless of residency).  County park I am currently has ten night per year free if you have the Oregon disable veteran pass.

I probably would not have stayed here if it weren't for the tax situation.  The only income I pay taxes on is what I draw from my IRA and I try to keep that low!  

Lenp

USN Retired
2002 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom

2012 F150 4x4

2018 Lincoln MKX

2019 HD Ultra Limited

 

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1 hour ago, lenp said:

The only income I pay taxes on is what I draw from my IRA and I try to keep that low!  

I don't know how old you are but my Dave started drawing down our IRAs before we needed it to reduce the amount in them. Because at age 70 1/2 you have to take minimum distributions so Dave wanted those distributions to be small since they would be taxable. It sounds odd to draw taxable income while not touching other savings but those minimum distributions can bite you if you don't plan ahead.

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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17 hours ago, HazNavy said:

in JULY 2019 purchasing a new to me, Airstream before retirement in the state of WA.  

Have you found this Airstream already and want to buy now to make sure it isn't sold, or are you just starting to shop for an RV and like the Airstream brand line? I ask for two reasons, #1 being that I'm wondering if you have looked at other lines of RVs and perhaps considered a fifth wheel or motorhome and #2 I am wondering if you just want that particular brand of travel trailer and are wanting to buy in WA just because you are currently there? Is it safe to assume that you want to buy the trailer to travel about, once you are retired? Do you want to remain based in WA or perhaps TX or where? 

Lemp suggests OR because they have no sales tax but they also require you to live physically in the state for 6 months to be accepted as "permanent travel" status for domicile and they do have an income tax, where neither WA or TX have any income tax but both do have sales tax. Since your profile lists Silverdale, I am assuming that you are currently at Naval Base Kitsap? Do you happen to be submarine, like several of us here are veterans of?

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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Kirk,

 

No, we haven't found our Airstream yet but, have been researching for about 2 years now; started down the usual path of diesel pusher to 5er to travel trailer.  My wife and I looked at more RVs over the last 2 years than I care to think about and have found the Airstream brand to have what we want.  

We are planning to full-time with our two young sons when we retire from the Navy (me in 2019 and my wife in 2020); we will not have a home base per se but will keep our TX affiliation.  

No, we are both down the road at the hospital in Bremerton.

Thank you for your "silent" service and the advise here.

 

v/r

 

Tod

Very Respectfully,

 

HazNavy

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1 hour ago, HazNavy said:

We are planning to full-time with our two young sons when we retire from the Navy (me in 2019 and my wife in 2020); we will not have a home base per se but will keep our TX affiliation.  

If you choose to join Escapees RV Club and use the mail service, as many of us here do or have done, you will find it very easily done as you will simply need to send off an address change to your driver's license office and the motor vehicle office. If you have remained a TX voter you will also need to change that address as well. If you have one of the TX driver's license extension for the duration of service, you will probably need to visit TX to convert that into a renewable one. You may want to consider spending some leave time in TX to see if you can locate an RV to fit your needs there to make that part easy as well. Some states allow you to buy in that state and avoid their sales taxes by registering in a different state, while other states do not. The WA motor vehicle office should be able to tell you if that is possible. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Kirk,

My wife and I were discussing going down to TX to find our Airstream and towing it back to WA.  I will look into changing everything over to the Escapees TX address as well, thanks for the information.

v/r

Tod

Very Respectfully,

 

HazNavy

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Thanks for your service.

We are SD residents, full-timers, and we had to buy a different car in March while we were in TN. We explained to the dealer that we didn't have to pay TN sales tax, only SD. It took us a couple of days for the paperwork to get done, but eventually we got our car. Then I had to immediately go back and get the other license plate because TN only uses one and SD uses two.

David Lininger, kb0zke
1993 Foretravel U300 40' (sold)
2022 Grand Design Reflection 315RLTS

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I purchased my Class A in Phoenix AZ and registered it in SO Dakota using the Escapees SD address and only had to pay 4% sales tax. I was already a SD resident. The dealer in Phoenix had to drive the RV across the CA state line in order to deliver it to me without charging me the AZ sales tax. I purchased my Jeep in Bosie ID and registered it in SD paying 4% sales tax as well. I drove off the dealers lot with theJeep and did not have to drive across the border to OR. Both times I mailed in the sales tax payment. No inspection was required with either vehicle and SD does not require a commercial drivers license for the Class A. 

2015 Itasca Ellipse 42QD

2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock Edition

2021 Harley Street Glide Special 

Fulltimer

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8 hours ago, Twotoes said:

The dealer in Phoenix had to drive the RV across the CA state line in order to deliver it to me without charging me the AZ sales tax.

That was the key.  If you had taken delivery in AZ, not only would they charge you AZ and local sales tax but they would require that you register and title it in AZ.

Everybody wanna hear the truth, but everybody tell a lie.  Everybody wanna go to Heaven, but nobody want to die.  Albert King

 

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5 hours ago, chirakawa said:

That was the key.  If you had taken delivery in AZ, not only would they charge you AZ and local sales tax but they would require that you register and title it in AZ.

We did the reverse. We bought an RV in CA and took delivery in NV to avoid CA taxes. Then we bought a car in Nevada and took delivery there without paying taxes. Does NV not have sales tax?

Linda

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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Hasn't all this avoiding to pay sales tax in the state one resides resulted in some serious badness for the individual(s) once the states get savvy?  While I'm not looking to pay more than I have to, I will pay what I need to to stay out of that potential mess.  

Very Respectfully,

 

HazNavy

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25 minutes ago, HazNavy said:

Hasn't all this avoiding to pay sales tax in the state one resides resulted in some serious badness for the individual(s) once the states get savvy?  While I'm not looking to pay more than I have to, I will pay what I need to to stay out of that potential mess.  

If we lived in California during that purchase, of course we would have paid their taxes. But, we full-timers often don't live in the state where we make our purchases. So rather than paying California's high taxes, we registered our new vehicles in our domicile state of South Dakota and paid their taxes. California actually has official forms to use to do this whereby you state you will not bring the RV back into California for some specified length of time. We weren't avoiding taxes altogether; we were just choosing to pay the lesser tax of our domicile state. That is fully legal.

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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32 minutes ago, HazNavy said:

Hasn't all this avoiding to pay sales tax in the state one resides resulted in some serious badness for the individual(s) once the states get savvy?  While I'm not looking to pay more than I have to, I will pay what I need to to stay out of that potential mess.  

It’s not to avoide sales tax. It’s to pay only the amount for the state where you domicile no matter what state you make the purchase in. 

2015 Itasca Ellipse 42QD

2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock Edition

2021 Harley Street Glide Special 

Fulltimer

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Understand now...thank you.  Not worth the hassle for me to change from TX to SD to save 2% in sales tax for an $80,000 purchase; it would be a different story if I was buying something much more expensive.  Thank you all for the information.

Very Respectfully,

 

HazNavy

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