Changing State Residency?

My current official residency is in Wisconsin, which has income tax. (I divested myself of all Wisconsin property. I only have a PO Box left there)

My tax accountant in WI suggested I think about changing my residency to Texas, where all my income comes from and there is no state income tax.

Is this a good idea and how does one go about establishing residency in a different state?

Usually you can find that infor at the Texas dmv or .gov website

Is this a good idea and how does one go about establishing residency in a different state?

David, thanks.

Looks like if someone was going to change state residency to a no-income tax state, South Dakota might be the least complicated process.

Has anyone done this because of being a nomadic driver? And how much of a hassle is it?

Someone did that not too long ago, like in the last 8 to 10 months. He used Sioux Falls South Dakota, if I remember rightly. You might use the search engine to check. For some reason I want to say it was Mountain Matt or something like that.

Laura

What Laura said is what I remember too. I'm not good at finding past posts but I thought he used a company that specializes in helping full-time RVers change states of residency when he escaped Illinois.

Mountain Matt is the one who did it but he didn't elaborate too much on the process if I recall correctly. Doing a quick search the south dakota website says you need to at a minimum provide a receipt showing you stayed atleast 1 night a year in a hotel or campground. There's virtual mailing services such as www.yourbestaddress.com that will give you a SD address to use for your mail. That is only 1 of many similar services that popped up, I'm not familiar with them so I can not tell you if they're good or bad. DMV website says virtual mailboxes like that will not work but I'm unsure how they'd know. Also, I can not find if South Dakota prints out your plastic license card in person when you show up or if they're one of the states that mail it out to you a few weeks later.

Good Sam Mail Service is what I used when I retired. They state Florida, Texas and South Dakota as the states where you can establish a residency with a legal address for mail and driver license.

They charge an annual fee, notify you of mail and will forward mail to anywhere. You keep a balance in your account to pay for postage.

Simple, convenient and it is legal.

A traveling mailbox is definitely the way to go if you don't plan on physically moving to the state of residence. The comments Listed above gave you pretty solid advice.

A traveling mailbox is definitely the way to go if you don't plan on physically moving to the state of residence. The comments Listed above gave you pretty solid advice.

Wow red gator in the flesh. Stoked to hear from you.

Mountain Matt is the one who did it but he didn't elaborate too much on the process if I recall correctly. Doing a quick search the south dakota website says you need to at a minimum provide a receipt showing you stayed atleast 1 night a year in a hotel or campground. There's virtual mailing services such as www.yourbestaddress.com that will give you a SD address to use for your mail. That is only 1 of many similar services that popped up, I'm not familiar with them so I can not tell you if they're good or bad. DMV website says virtual mailboxes like that will not work but I'm unsure how they'd know. Also, I can not find if South Dakota prints out your plastic license card in person when you show up or if they're one of the states that mail it out to you a few weeks later.

Thanks for all the info. I ended up going through the company Rob suggested,

www.yourbestaddress.com

Will soon be an official resident of South Dakota with significant financial advantages, primarily no state income tax.

It cost me $300 to go through a very easy process with this company. That covers me for a year. After that, $17 per month.

I can have UPS, Fed Ex, USPS delivered there to my mail box and then forwarded wherever I need it to go, paying only for the postage.

Hopefully it proves to be a good move.