Beware of camping in NC.

[jsmitfl]

I’m like Mark. Screw their bill. They going to run you down and fine you or take your rig. I doubt it. WHen you send your letter send someTP with it.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

I've been advised by a retired lawyer friend not to ignore it as they'll surely issue a tax warrant on it. At the very least it'll show up on our credit report. We could also get our pay garnished.

His advice is to find the statute that covers it. If it applies to us pay the bill. If not contest it based on that. He's 99.9% sure it's in error and we're fine.

Having trouble getting the exact statute as to what they say makes our Florida registered Montana taxable.

I'm retired so I've got nothing but time to annoy them.

[Robinpterp]

Same in Virginia. We are MD residents and our vehicles are all titled and tagged in MD. We put our camper on a seasonal site in VA from April 1 to November 30. The same January 1st rule applies there. As long as we are out of the campground before December 31, and don't return until the season opens again, we don't get hit with the VA personal property tax. The two winters we did leave our camper on the site, we had to pay tax to both the county and town where the campground is located.

Lucky for us, there is an RV dealer just across the MD line that offers winter storage, so now we have them pick it up in early December and bring it back in late March.

[jeririgged223]

It could be that because you are full timers, have no permanent home base for the sake of a homeowners exemption and stayed several months that you de facto established residency and therefore can be charged a personal property aka luxury tax.

Many states require that after a set number of days of living somewhere that you notify DMV.

[Our3231CK]

Its worth paying an attorney to send them a letter insisting they revoke any tax liability or you will file a damages suit against the county, specifically the individuals who are signing the document insisting you pay.

[packnrat]

i think many of us out here need to send a physical letter to thats states governor stating we will stay out of there state and spend our moneys else where.
if say 1000 people would do this things just might change.
this should include boat owners.
sure that state might only lost a couple million dollars a year. but the bad press could possible cost them a 10’s of millions in lost revenue over a year from people not going there.
as the state would lose more that a illegal tax. but fuel, food, services etc. taxes,,

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Just got off the phone with them a bit ago. Said they were still waiting for a letter from the campground indicating what day we left. Apparently there are two others in the same boat.

We still have no idea what criteria makes an RV in the state taxable. Can they assess you if you overnight in a Walmart on January 31st? My guess is 180 days but I cannot find anything stating that.

If the campground doesn't come through I just need to contest the assessment in writing (certified with return receipt) by August 13th which will put it back on them. If it is 180 days that should be the end of it.

A lawyer is out of the question as it would undoubtedly cost more than the bill and getting anything from the county in damages is doubtful.

Besides that we're in our Upstate NY to SoCal and back snowbird routine and won't be getting anywhere near NC anytime in the foreseeable future.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by packnrat

i think many of us out here need to send a physical letter to thats states governor stating we will stay out of there state and spend our moneys else where.
if say 1000 people would do this things just might change.
this should include boat owners.
sure that state might only lost a couple million dollars a year. but the bad press could possible cost them a 10’s of millions in lost revenue over a year from people not going there.
as the state would lose more that a illegal tax. but fuel, food, services etc. taxes,,

Personally we will stay in nothing but military FamCamp's and do all of our shopping on post/base when we go back. Not going through this again.

[mlh]

Is it worth all the effort when the CG Just did what Tn law requires. Send whoever a letter explaining the situation and see if they will forget about the tax. You can get a lawyer, spend three times the tax and still haft to pay the tax.
Lynwood

[drjjj]

If the campground does not come through with the letter please make sure you tell us who the campground is so we can avoid them.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by mlh

Is it worth all the effort when the CG Just did what Tn law requires. Send whoever a letter explaining the situation and see if they will forget about the tax. You can get a lawyer, spend three times the tax and still haft to pay the tax.
Lynwood

It's NC and if that were the case I would just pay it and chalk it up to our ignorance of the law.

But I'm 99.99% sure we did not meet the criteria to owe the tax. If I could find the statute, and it says we owe it, that would put all of this to rest. But I cannot find it and the assessors office hasn't answered my emails asking for it or a link to it. The NC DOR website is very vague. In actuality it only mentions residents of NC. Nothing at all about non residents paying personal property tax. If anybody reading this can point me in the right direction that would be most helpful.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by drjjj

If the campground does not come through with the letter please make sure you tell us who the campground is so we can avoid them.

I absolutely will. This has been a real pain and I would not want others to have to deal with it.

[Mikelff]

Originally Posted by packnrat

i think many of us out here need to send a physical letter to thats states governor stating we will stay out of there state and spend our moneys else where.
if say 1000 people would do this things just might change.
this should include boat owners.
sure that state might only lost a couple million dollars a year. but the bad press could possible cost them a 10’s of millions in lost revenue over a year from people not going there.
as the state would lose more that a illegal tax. but fuel, food, services etc. taxes,,

Really?? NEVER going to happen. Go ahead, lead the charge.

[Rick n Kelly]

I would send a copy of the receipt from the RV Park, hopefully it has dates showing you were camping short time. Copy the state attorney generals office and state comptroller.

At one time Trailer Life had a legal advocate. Contact them also. Not sure if TL still has the legal advocacy articles.

[Mikelff]

Originally Posted by R.S.O'Donnell

I absolutely will. This has been a real pain and I would not want others to have to deal with it.

Send your letter and include a copy of your receipt. Im sure it shows your check in date and check out date. It should also have the rv park information on it as well. That should count as documentation from the RV park. Don’t worry about your credit record. You can easily fix that as well by sending a letter to the credit agency with your receipt, a copy of the letter you sent to the county, and request they remove it from your credit history. I have gone through this before and got it handled. DO NOT PAY THAT TAX BILL! You don't owe it. You are not a resident of that state! It’s just a scare tactic and they will jerk you around as much as they can. They have to prove you owe the tax, and they cannot do that.
Good luck.

[packnrat]

Originally Posted by Mikelff

Really?? NEVER going to happen. Go ahead, lead the charge.

sad most will never do such. and this is why we get stomped on.

(not for just this threads reasons, but many others).
as not being residents of any given state, city, etc. as we have no vote there. the only way to correct such "problems" is with our money's, and spending habits.


NOTE: nothing said here is, or thought to be political. just money, and the power we hold in spending said.

[jeririgged223]

Originally Posted by R.S.O'Donnell

Personally we will stay in nothing but military FamCamp's and do all of our shopping on post/base when we go back. Not going through this again.

Just curious, at the time you were in the RV park had your registration tags expired? Even if you had renewed them, if you were DISPLAYING expired tags because you hadn't received the current ones that would be another reason why they assessed you the personal property tax.

If they were expired at the time then you'll most likely be stuck paying that personal property tax bill.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by jeririgged223

Just curious, at the time you were in the RV park had your registration tags expired? Even if you had renewed them, if you were DISPLAYING expired tags because you hadn't received the current ones that would be another reason why they assessed you the personal property tax.

If they were expired at the time then you'll most likely be stuck paying that personal property tax bill.

No. Tags are actually two year tags so not even close. There are also lots of permanent residents that would need a demolition crew and new tires to get them out. Nothing like that with us so there was no confusing us for one.

We were never more setup than boondocking in Quartzite. The day we left we were packed up and rolling in under an hour.

The big question is why not the truck as it's also considered personal property in NC. I have some suspicions I should just keep to myself.

That being said we've dubbed the county Valkenvania.

https://youtu.be/5uOBF6r040U

In light of NC's personal property tax we've decided to steer clear altogether. When we do head south to visit family in Florida it'll be... Fill up and pee before and not stop until we get to SC. Don't want to run the risk of getting assessed as a permanent resident while stopped in a rest area.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by packnrat

sad most will never do such. and this is why we get stomped on.

(not for just this threads reasons, but many others).
as not being residents of any given state, city, etc. as we have no vote there. the only way to correct such "problems" is with our money's, and spending habits.


NOTE: nothing said here is, or thought to be political. just money, and the power we hold in spending said.

Agreed 100% and we do just that. We've moved on early many times over the years for a variety of reasons. They need us..... we DO NOT need them.

[DutchmenSport]

Many, many years ago, I lived in North Carolina for a little over 2 years. I had my car and a motorcycle. But, I had both legally registered and plated in Indiana, as my parents home truly was my home of record. I was just working in NC for a couple years.

The first year came and went with absolutely no issues. I went did return "home" to my parents house, I was able to get my tags (and keep my insurance) up to date in Indiana. I probably could have got away with it for the entire 2 years had it not been for my own mistake.

I was about 5 miles from where I actually lived on an Interstate, on my motorcycle, about 10:30 at night, and I was definitely SPEEDING when the blue and red lights came on behind me. Oh CRAP! What do I do now.

I was polite to the officer, no hint of anger, and tried to remain very humble. He asked me where I was headed. Without hesitation, I responded, "home". (thinking of where I was living in NC.... not Indiana).

He wanted to see my drivers license and registration, which I gave him. I showed him my insurance information also. He said, you are a long way from home. How long are you planning on driving tonight.

Then it hit me! I said, ... well, I was planning on driving straight through to "home" tonight. But since you caught me speeding, I'll have to slow down a bit and I guess that will mean I'll need to stop somewhere between here and there tonight.

He responded back and said, that's a good idea. Slow down. And he let me go.

It was the next day, I decided to go to the DMV and get registered in NC. I got my drivers license and vehicle registrations changed to NC. I figure, if I ever got stopped by law enforcement again, they'd really question why I was still in NC.

And for what it's worth, I never speeded again on the motorcycle.

Come that next January, (or whenever it was, I got hit with that personal property tax bill). It goes without saying, as soon as I finally returned to Indiana permanently, I switched everything back immediately!