Author: Heggen Law

At Heggen Law Office, clients often come to us looking for information about the transition to a full-time RV lifestyle. In many instances, they are curious about where to establish legal residency now that they’ve committed to life on the road. More often than not, our trusted associates recommend three states—Florida, Texas, and South Dakota—as particularly great options for full-timers, but we also like to remind our clients to keep Montana in mind as they make their transition. While Florida, Texas, and South Dakota are easily the best choices for declaring legal residency, they are not always as optimal for registering and licensing the vehicles that make your lifestyle possible. On the other hand, by declaring legal residency in one of these states while registering your luxury and recreational vehicles in Montana through a Montana LLC, it’s possible to have your cake and eat it too.

Unfortunately, the US legal system has not quite caught up with the nomadic lifestyle and still operates on the default that its citizens are stationary, making the transition to full-time RV’ing a bit complicated. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the freedom of your RV while still fulfilling your legal obligations for residency. Rather, if you plan wisely, you’ll be able to enjoy both the freedom of the road and the freedom of a full wallet.

When transitioning to a full-time nomadic lifestyle, one of the most important steps each full-timer must take is choosing where to establish legal domicile. While ‘residency’ can be defined more casually by legal terms, a citizen’s legal ‘domicile’ is a specific combination of both residency as well as an intent to remain a resident. In other words, domicile is not merely proof of your place of residence, but also all of the various life chores (mail, voting, insurance, vehicle registration, taxes, etc.) that prove your established connection to that residence, i.e. your intent to remain. And while it is advisable to align as many of these details as possible in order to stay within the parameters of our stationary system, your full-time status also gives you a unique opportunity to re-organize your life for maximum return.

It’s no secret that in the last few years, Florida, Texas, and South Dakota have all made big names for themselves within the full-timing community. This is largely due to their lack of state income tax and general friendliness to the vagabond lifestyle. For instance, each state offers reliable mail forwarding services designed for full-timers seeking a legal state address. Florida has welcomed its fair share of not only retirees, but also full-timers thanks to its warm climate as well as a number of choices for health insurance. In Texas, voting can easily be completed by mail. On the other hand, South Dakota has kept its sales taxes reasonably low and its policies particularly nomad-friendly.

In effect, each of these three states is convenient for proving both your residency as well as your intent to remain, making all of them desirable options for full-timers, but less convenient when it comes to purchasing and registering your full-time vehicles. While each of these states is a great choice for a full-timer’s legal domicile, they also enforce pricey sales taxes, registration fees, and tedious vehicle inspections; fees that often add up to a large chunk of a full-timer’s built-in expenses.

Thankfully, there’s an easy alternative.

Unlike Florida, Texas, and South Dakota, whose sales taxes range from 8% (TX) to 4% (SD), Montana is one of the few remaining sales tax free states. A Montana vehicle registration not only allows you to avoid sales tax on the pricey vehicles that make your lifestyle possible, but also those pesky annual inspections and high licensing fees required by other states. Thanks to Montana’s unusually confidential LLC policies and notoriously quirky vehicle registration process, the state is especially friendly to both full-timers and those simply looking to protect their assets.

Over the years, nonresidents have easily benefitted from Montana’s laws by filing and transferring their vehicle to an established Montana LLC, thereby transferring their vehicles’ ownership (and risk) to that LLC (you can read more about the benefits of a Montana LLC here). After establishing an LLC, full-timers can register as many of their vehicles to the state of Montana as they choose, avoiding Florida, Texas, and South Dakota’s more exhaustive and expensive requirements. In doing so, full-timers can not only enjoy the benefit of un-taxed income by their new home-state, but also a secure and tax free Montana vehicle registration. Check out our blog and FAQ’s page for more information about Montana’s tax free vehicle registration.

When choosing to RV full-time, having your odds and ends organized cohesively according to your legal domicile can make annoyances such as insurance or legal trouble much easier to work out. So if you do plan to benefit from a sales tax free Montana vehicle registration as a Florida resident, call our office to ensure that the process is done legally and securely by a professional attorney. With our help, there’s no reason to not enjoy the time and cost saving benefits of a Montana vehicle registration even as a resident of an income tax free state.

As a full-timer, you have many options, not only of where you’ll live for the foreseeable future, but also of where you’ll establish yourself now that you’re on the road. Call our office today for a free consultation with our trusted advisors if you think that a Montana vehicle registration is a good option for you.

What does a Montana LLC do for you?  Two words: asset protection.

While protecting your assets in the “Wild West” may seem counter-intuitive, Montana is a gold mine for securing not only valuable personal property, but also yourself. In a previous post we outlined the step-by-step process for registering your vehicles, boats, or aircraft through a Montana LLC in order to avoid your home state’s high sales tax and licensing fees. As mentioned, the financial benefits of a tax-free Montana vehicle registration are substantial in themselves—but they are hardly the only benefits.

In the age of online social sharing and being constantly ‘linked in,’ establishing a Montana LLC through Heggen law Office is the perfect solution for maintaining the privacy of your personal information. While the process does require a few names and addresses, this information is securely handled and used only by our office for the purpose of processing your paperwork. Once this is complete, your personal information is filed away and you can begin transferring or registering all chosen assets to your new Montana LLC. With your Montana entity acting as the technical owner to your luxury vehicles, you’re in a position to have your cake and eat it too, with your names and personal information fully protected.

Say, for example, you unintentionally cut off that Subaru WRX riding everyone’s bumper down the interstate. Though most titled vehicles are simply public record and therefore easily searchable, the angry boy taking your license plate behind you will only get as far as your Montana corporation. While this boy may be able to track your license plate to your LLC, he will find it very difficult to come up with any actual names or personal information.

This is because after filing a Montana LLC, the Secretary of State only releases a few key pieces of information: your registered agent and office address, your primary business address, and the name of your LLC. At Heggen Law Office, we ensure an extra layer of protection by using our own commercial business address as your LLC’s primary address and filing ourselves as the LLC manager in your entity’s articles of organization. This way, all personal information such as names or addresses remains fully confidential. In order to actually get a hold of your personal information, said boy would have to go as far as subpoenaing our office. By this point, said boy has most likely moved on to annoy another traveler.

Beyond protecting your name and checkbook, a Montana LLC can also be useful when navigating the world of credit. For instance, when applying for phones, homes, credit, or other loans, you often authorize an asset search in addition to a simple credit check. By filing your Montana LLC as the owner of your assets, you may be able to avoid unforeseen consequences of these asset searches by not owning your luxury vehicles, boats, or aircraft out-rightly. Instead, your Montana LLC assumes the risk while maintaining your confidentiality.

If you have any interest in asset protection and privacy through a Montana LLC, call our office to speak with our knowledgeable staff. Together, we have over 40 years of experience with Montana LLC law and tax free Montana vehicle registration. Explore our blog and FAQ’s page to learn more about the cost-saving benefits of a Montana LLC.

 

A quick internet search of ‘tax free MT vehicle registration’ will return hundreds of thousands of results, providing you with plenty of Montana registered agents to choose from if you’re in the market for a Montana vehicle registration. With so many options, a large part this decision comes down to choosing to do business with either a registered agent or a professional attorney. While both can do the job, professional attorneys will often be your best option—both legally and financially. To put it frankly, not all ‘registered agents’ are created equal.

Technically, anyone with a registered Montana address can act as your registered agent. This means that anyone with a laptop and a Montana home address has the ability to act as the designated business address for any legal documents intended for your Montana entity. While this detail doesn’t necessarily equate all registered agents with high risk, it certainly sheds light on the benefits of having both a commercial business address and professional attorney receiving your LLC’s service of process.

In addition to a legal cushion, a professional attorney will also often provide an extra layer of confidentiality. For most, whether filing important documents such as vehicle registration or simply online shopping, the assurance that your information is secure and confidential is a high priority. At Heggen Law Office, protecting your information is of equal concern. We know that now, more than ever, the internet can be as much risk as it is reward. Knowing this, we work hard to ensure that you and your personal information are always protected.

With over 40 years of combined experience, our office has built a reputation for handling client’s information with care and confidentiality. For each client, we file a professionally written operating agreement and do our best to provide them with personalized service and information according to their home state. What’s more, unlike many fast-acting ‘agent’ website claims, you can trust that you will never be overcharged or subscribed to for payments beyond the standard fees listed on our Vehicle Registration information page.

If you’re interested in learning more about the process, visit our step-by-step guide for a tax-free Montana vehicle registration for more details or contact us today!