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View Full Version : Which states to I pay income tax to


laurac25
Feb 2, 2009, 10:44 AM
My husband and I are full-time RV workampers. We have no designated home state. My husband's drivers license is Kansas, where we used to live. My drivers license is Montana, where we were when my Kansas license expired.
The only property we own is our motorhome and our Jeep Wrangler. Both are tagged in Montana. We use a mail forwarding service from Florida, which is a PO box, but we also have a physical address provided by the service that we use when someone won't accept a PO box.
My husband receives KPERS retirement from Kansas, which is not state taxable. VA disability and Social Security. Both of us worked part-time this past year in Utah, which is where we are now.
I know that we need to pay state tax in Utah. We do have a PO box here to receive our forwarded mail. We have been here since April 2007.
My questions are:
1. Do we file as residents or non-residents of Utah?
2. Do we need to file taxes in Montana?
3. Since we "re-locate" every year, how do we not have these issues again?

Thank you for any help you give us No one has been able to definitively answer these questions for us, up to now. We have been living this life-style for 6 years and have no plans to change.

ebaines
Feb 2, 2009, 10:55 AM
If you spend at least 6 months in any one state that that is your state or residence. If not, and you have no intention of "settling down," then you should use the state where you spend more time than any other. Since you've been in Utah since April 2007 that's your current state of residence. It doesn't matter what your driver's license says - if your license is from a different state then you should get a new license from Utah. So you should file as residents of Utah; no need to file in Montana. Finally, as long as you keep intending to keep move around each year to multiple states you will have to determine which state is your residence based on where you spend the most time. Someday when you do intend to settle down and stay in one place at least 6 months that will be your new state of residence.