We received an interesting question from one of our followers wondering about our place of residency. We mentioned that we were thinking about becoming citizens of a particular state, and then we were asked how long we'd be there. This leads to a quick discussion about permanent addresses.
Each person in the United States, for purposes of census, income tax collection, identification, and voting, are allocated an address. This is typically designated as a person's "permanent address". This doesn't necessarily mean that they are spending most of their time at that location. Let's consider college students as an example. They aren't spending most of their time and money at their permanent address. Instead, they're living in a dormitory or apartment near their studies, and going back to their original location for a couple months out of the year. They'll still retain the original address and citizenship for the aforementioned purposes, so they're legally still "living there", even if they aren't physically there.
For those who are living full-time in their RV, the concept and execution really isn't that different. There are mail handling services available that will also offer the ability for the patron to use the address as a permanent location, and help them establish necessities associated with citizenship, such as driver's licenses, vehicle registration, voting address, and so on. These services are usually found where there aren't any state income taxes, and municipal responsibilities are minimal. Once again, although we'll establish citizenship in a particular state, we're not necessarily going to be there. We may not set foot in the particular state for a couple years, but we'd still be citizens of the state.
When looking into becoming citizens of a state, there are plenty of things to review. Are there residency requirements to receive services? Taxes are a big issue, and you'll likely want to save some money by being a citizen of a state without a state income tax. Income isn't the only tax, though, as you'll also want to consider vehicle registrations and driver's licenses renewals, if property tax is charged on vehicles, potential municipal taxes, health care taxes, and also taxes related to a small business you might be doing on the road to generate some income. Vehicle maintenance is also important; are you going to want to have to go back to a state every year to get your RV and any other vehicle inspected, or will preventive maintenance during your regular oil changes and tune-ups suffice? If you have or plan to have children, a state may also have some red tape surrounding their home schooling. There may be other things important in your life to consider.
At the end of the day, we simply intend to choose a permanent address for the legal basics, and hit the road. Less time worrying about the day-to-day red tape will give us more time to follow our internal compass.
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