Pay no sales or property tax on next vehicle purchase. Scam or truth?

[BravestDog]

Somebody is running this ad on ebay.

Anyone know anything about this concept?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Pay-NO-SALES-TAX-on-your...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here is their website, www.Montanarv.net and some of the text from their ebay ad:

By establishing a Montana Holding Company with us (Elite Montana Services, LLC), you are creating an entity that is a legal resident of Montana. You can then, legally, purchase and register your RV in your company name, and legally avoid sales tax and costly registration fees. We create your Montana Holding Company for you, as well as register your vehicle and renew it each year. We will act as your company's "Registered Agent" and will establish and maintain your Holding Company for you. As your "Registered Agent" we will provide you with a mailing and physical address. We offer a COMPLIMENTARY mail forwarding service to ALL of our clients! We have helped THOUSANDS of Americans save money with their RV purchases. So, set-up your holding company today and let us help you too! **Our services are GUARANTEED the BEST in the industry! (Once you purchase your Montana Holding Company, you will have our contact info, and we will notify you immediately to get you started and get your new RV or Trailer both registered and plates. (Example: a 2006 new Motorhome (make, model, and $value is immaterial) would cost you $300/year to plate and register in Montana.) A new fifth-wheel trailer would cost approximately $150-$175. This is a ONE-TIME fee (you receive a "permanent" tag and plate in Montana for ALL trailers and fifth wheels). We look forward to servicing you!

(If you would like further info, please call/email and we would be happy to mail/email/fax you information. Be sure to include details regarding your current situation (i.e. state of residence, purchasing or already own, type of vehicle you would add to your LLC, and any special requirements you may be concerned about). We look forward to speaking with you!

ELITE MONTANA SERVICES, INC.

WEB: www.Montanarv.net

EMAIL: info@MontanaRV.net

Toll Free# 888.430.3388

 

[Elburn Bill]

Not a scam. Many have done it, including me and several other here. I have not heard of this company before. I used Bennett Law Offices in Missoula, MT. You can do a search here or on RV.net or just about any rving site and there will be a plethora of info. You must check into the legality of it in your state though. Bennett does explain this prior to doing anything. I brought all info to my lawyers (and accountant) and had them evaluate it prior to doing anything. They all gave it a green flag for both IL (old residence) and IN (new and current residence).

 

[BravestDog]

Bill,

How much does a person have to spend on a truck before it makes sense?

Can I have a out of state plate and stay in CA without the police on my case...?

Will this principle go on forever or in a few years will something change here...?

 

[Elburn Bill]

That depends upon what your state sales tax, registration fee, plate fee, etc is. In IL it was 7.5% and I do not remember the other fees. In IN the sales tax is 6% but then they get you every year for a personal property tax and for MH they calculate that the same as they do the property taxes!! I figured it saved me just under $20K in sales tax and a ton more in other fees. It cost me around $1200 to setup (incl the first years tags) and now it runs about $125/yr for the lawyer administration plus $225 for the tags, which decline each year until the MH is 11 yrs old at which point they issue permanent tags.

I have been thru at least 16 states and crossed into Canada about 20-30 times without any issues whatsoever.

The LLC is set up as a single member LLC and the only asset(s) of the LLC is the MH, boat, truck, etc. Since the LLC is not in business, there are no tax forms to file at all (check with an accountant in CA first).

CA is a whole different ball of wax. I do not know the laws over there at all. It would be best to either talk to one of the MT lawyers (I recommned Bennett) or someone that has already done it in CA.

Good luck.

 

[Wick-TC]

Bravestdog,
This sort of thing has been going on for years. Many of the Trucking companies tag all of the equipment in a friendly state. We tag all our trailers in NJ with a permanent plate and no Sales tax. Tractors are tagged in Virginia for me with the apportioned plate to be legal here but my Motorhome is tagged in Montana. Bill is correct it saved me a ton in sales tax and property tax(rent to the goverenment).

Wick

 

[ETS98]

There are a lot of motorhome owners that use a Montana address and save themselves some pretty good money. The only problem that you will run into with this is if you need financing because most banks will not finance a Montana address without a matching driver's license due to the weak repossession laws in that state.

 

[Marc-TC]

My $.02

There is also a kinda,sorta,maybe,same,type thingy in Nevada to. From what I understand and please correct me if I am wrong.The Montana deal is quite a bit better. Could/Can any type vehicle that is already owned and not financed or liened in anyway be transfferd into the LLC.?? As in cars,pick-ups,motorcycles and boats etc.???

 

[WalliK]

Bravest Dog,

I would not play with CA, one of the worst states. Many threads on this subject on rv.net and others.

And as already stated even the attorney will refer to your own state laws. For CA its tough. If you spend more than 2 (or 3, not quite sure) weeks here you are supposed to get CA registration. Especially if you have CA DL, or CA address or file CA tax returns.

Used to be if you kept it out of state for 180 days during the first year you were safe, but even this has changed. And even then they wanted to see "real" bills, not just storage. They needed fuel bills, campground bills...

Remember, CA even taxes "foreign" (= out of state) corporations with a minimum of $ 400, as soon as you go into CA, even if there is no profit.

Not meaning it cannot be done, but you have to double check everything and still can expect hassles here. Best is - as mentioned earlier - to check with Bennet. Everyone mentions them. And with that much money at stake definately worth to look into it.

 

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

......the Montana law will stay on the books until some idiot want-to-be politican finds out about this ....then he/she will take to to the capital and they will change the law to suit their income needs for whetever capital improvement/slary raise they wish to make......remember they want give the truck stops requlations now to be "interstate regulated truck stops"- able to handle the rest areas so they can get rid of the state owned rest areas which cost the state money to maintain and pass that cost on to the individual truckers for a 10 hour nap.....get used to the privitation movement with goverment oversight....it will effect RV'ers more and more.....geofkaye

 

[fastlap]

The insurnce don't seem possible??? at least from NY??

 

[Marc-TC]

Hey T, You have to insure your stuff there, It
CAN be done. NJ & NY are damn near the same.
Because both Registration,Tags and Insurance will be based in Mt. Don't forget that it is in
a LLC Corp. Name. But that should not matter.

 

[Patrick-TC]

I just wanted to revive this thread to remind everyone that there is no excise tax if you go through Montana. Since 2004 I have. I saved $18,000+
I used Deer Creek. If you get pulled over just say "This is a corporate vehicle from Montana but I live in X state." I have Progressive insurance and they never asked what state the vehicle was tagged in.

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

It does depend on where you keep the rig to some states. I live in MN and they have a rotten law that says if the veh. is in MN for 30 consecutive days it must be registered in MN. I don't figure how they can enforce such a law. But it's there. My neighbor used to drive a company car. Company registered it in their home state (not MN). He rarely left the state with it. I don't think anybody ever bothered him about it. A high profile veh. like a motorhome might attract some attention from the neighbors. I decided not to risk getting complained by somebody and getting in trouble so I registered mine in MN and paid the sales tax. And we have rather high yearly license tab fees too. I would guess MN isn't the only state that has that 30 day law, or something similar. When I contacted one of the Montana LLC experts before buying my rig he knew right away MN had that law. I would guess they know what states it works for and what states it doesn't.

 

[bushpilot-TC]

As bob says....and the same law applies in Texas (& Virginia).