wankel7

This is why you have to be a true nomad. Which is why South Dakota is so popular with the full time RVers.

I heard of a person who claimed SD residency yet decided to remain in their home in a state that collects state tax. It didn't work out very well.

tomgoodman

The road to disaster begins with the words “They can never prove that I ....”.

AirBear

North Carolina nailed some pilots years ago. Pilots were claiming their boats in FL as residence. The State Investigators looked up property records, school records, even what church they attended and raised the BS flag. The pilots were actually facing jail time for tax fraud but I think settled for past due taxes and large fines.

One interesting place to live is Southern Washington State in one of the cities near Portland, OR. A number of pilots do that. WA has no income tax, and OR has no sales tax. So they drive 20-30 min to PDX for their trips and also do their major shopping in OR. I looked at housing prices a year or so ago and they weren't that high. A house similar to mine here in CLT was about 25% more, and CLT has very reasonable housing cost, or at least did until lately when the market has gone crazy. My home's value has jumped 25% or more in the past 18 months. Housing supply is down to 45 days, normal is 6 months. So I don't know how attractive Southern WA still is as far as cost of housing. But with no state income tax and being able to shop in OR with no sales tax you save a bunch of $$$$.

rickair7777

Tax evasion is typically a felony too, which would certainly endanger your job, and make you non-hireable anywhere else. I don't think you can use your sick bank for the federal white-collar retreat.

Aviatrix Gal

This right here is what I am looking to find more info about. There is not a lot of info about it either (from a pilots POV). I recently decided to live semi nomad and full uncomplicated out of an RV. I figure as long as I dont live in any state longer then their legal max, (ie: 180 days for most I've looked at) it is completely legal.

I am hoping someone with experience or first hand knowledge about this could chime in. I dont need a bunch of opinions.

question 1. Is it legal to do this as long as you move once every 179 (or state max) days? I might even rotate through the same 3-5 states mostly.

question 2. and most importantly. I am concerned about background checks. I am still waiting for my career destination airline to realize how much they need to call me, so I dont want to destroy my ability to pass an FBI background check. Would mail forwarding send up red flags. I will keep records of each 'address' just in case, but would only report the virtual address.

question 3. I would have to continuously update the FAA of my present physical address, at least once every 30 days, even if I move 10 times in that period, or should it be done after each and every move? (ie: turn south on the gravel road and mile marker xx, drive 1.3 miles to the big tree, turn left onto the goat path, drive .5 miles to the small clearing, look to the right to see my rv)

Once again, I am looking for either actual legal answers and/or help finding those legal answers, not opinions (unless you thought of something else I didnt)

Thank you

tomgoodman

Some people insure their car in a state with low rates, but don’t tell the insurance company they have moved to a state with high rates. After a grace period expires, this can invalidate the policy.

rickair7777

They'll keep taking your money regardless. But if you ever have a major claim (the kind you really NEED insurance for), they'll spring for investigators whose job is to look for reasons to void the policy and deny the claim.

rickair7777

Regarding multiple visits to the same state... IIRC they are not measuring residency by consecutive periods of residence, but by cumulative time in any given tax year (calendar year for most private citizens). This is because many folks have vacation homes or dual residences in two states.

You're really going to want to get professional tax advice for each state you plan to spend significant time in.

I don't think the SIDA check will be an issue. You will probably need to report actual location of residence for background checks... they typically want to know that vice just the PO box where you get your mail. When filling out a federal form you need to do it honestly and literally... the penalties for not doing that are usually in fine print on the bottom of the form.

But revolving-door addresses might raise eyebrows with a major, if for no other reason than it makes their own background check harder. They might possibly just pass on your application, in favor of a cleaner one.

In this case you probably have some discretion as to what constitutes a "permanent" change of residence vs. a road trip.

Typically someone doing an extended road trip would keep a permanent address somewhere to get their mail, but you have to be careful because of the taxman. May need to send your mail in "C/O" someone else so it's clear that you DON'T live there (maybe a forwarding service).


You probably need to talk to a lawyer and/or tax pro. You're not getting actual legal answers here.

The problem I see is conflicting priorities....

For the tax man you want to avoid establishing residency anywhere. For the majors, you want to avoid confusing them with too many addresses.

The FAA and SIDA just have to deal with it, I wouldn't worry about them too much, just don't lie to them.

Again you probably need professional advice. I would look into establishing residence and a mailing address in a no-tax state, and then just taking road trips from there. Plenty of retirees do that, and don't seem to get taxed in every state they park their RV in.

ItnStln

How is there no risk of jury duty in SD?

Aviatrix Gal

Thats a good question!