Choosing a Home State To Leave From

[SHAUN LJUNGGREN]

We are seriously considering making the move to Ecuador. We are originally from Washington state but have lived in TN for last 5 years. As we look at tax implications we’d rather call WA our home state because they won’t tax dividend income which will be our primary means of supporting ourselves. Neither state have an income tax.

Additionally WA is where all of our relatives live and is likely to be the state we would return to if for some reason the Ecuador dream doesn’t work out.

My question is, as far as the US govt. is concerned, what do we need to do to legally make WA our home state? Is it as simple as selling our TN home and setting up a mailing address in WA? We could certainly claim our parents home as our home base but am not sure if we need to do more. For instance, do we need to live in WA for a certain length of time before officially departing for Ecuador or get WA state drivers licenses or anything like that?

Would appreciate any knowledge you can share as I haven’t had much luck searching the inter webs.

Thanks.

[SUZAN HASKINS]

HI Shaun, I think much of this depends on the domicile rules of Tennessee and to lesser degree, Washington. But I am not a tax expert and thank goodness for that!! I know some, though, that specialize in taxes for expats. Email Nick Hodges: nhodges@moneyconcepts.com and you might copy one of his colleagues, Matt Apodaca, who may have more time to give you answers: matt@nchwealth.com — these are good guys and they are happy to answer questions.

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