Anyone keep a permanent mailing address seperate from where they "really" live?

[Sabine]

Dh and I will be moving to VA from PA in June and dh will be starting his Navy obligations. We will probably be moving around several times over the next few years. We''re considering making one of our parents'' addresses our permanent mailing address so that we don''t have change all of our info. every time we move.

Has anyone else done this? Are there any major problems with doing this? I''ve already talked to our insurance agent, and he can help us get a renters policy for our new apartment even though that won''t be our permanent address, and we realize we would have to have our cars inspected in PA if we keep our licenses and registrations here, but are there any other inconveniences that you''ve experienced?

 

[lucyandroger]

A lot of students do this while they''re away at college/ grad school. I had my mom''s address as my permanent address the whole time I was in law school and traveling around for summer jobs. It didn''t really cause any issues at all. You''ll have to think about where to file your taxes and what the laws of each state are concerning that. Also, just make sure your parents are keeping up with sending you your mail because it can be overwhelming to get a huge pile of important letters (sometimes after deadlines have passed).

Btw, welcome to VA! I''m in No. VA.

 

[fleur-de-lis]

Date: 3/23/2009 5:44:10 PM
Author:Sabine
Dh and I will be moving to VA from PA in June and dh will be starting his Navy obligations. We will probably be moving around several times over the next few years. We''re considering making one of our parents'' addresses our permanent mailing address so that we don''t have change all of our info. every time we move.


Has anyone else done this? Are there any major problems with doing this? I''ve already talked to our insurance agent, and he can help us get a renters policy for our new apartment even though that won''t be our permanent address, and we realize we would have to have our cars inspected in PA if we keep our licenses and registrations here, but are there any other inconveniences that you''ve experienced?

Sure, in your scenario it looks like you''re trying to have PA as your domicile (basically your primary residence) and VA would be a second residence. There are a bunch of court cases on this sometimes nebulous concept many of which turn on "intent" and sufficient nexus to the home state, so there''s not an easy black-and-white answer. In a broad perspective, the day-to-day stuff is manageable, though there are a few additional kinks you''d have to deal with. In addition to the points L&R made about mail forwarding, there will be a host of little issues along the way. Tax returns may become more complicated if you report income in two states (such as investment/interest income at your domicile, and salary in the 2nd state). To bolster the PA as domicile case, you will probably want to keep on the voter rolls there, so you''d be absentee balloting if you vote. You''d still be on the rolls for jury duty in PA. Car insurance may be an issue, b/c typically insurance companies want your car to be insured based on where it is physically present, and thus they may require you to re-register the car in the 2nd state. (Talk to your agent about it.)

 

[Sabine]

Ohh, good points about taxes and voting. FIL is a CPA so we will definitely ask him about the legality/concerns for our taxes. Our car insurance agent already gave us the go ahead for keeping our cars insured in PA though, so that''s good.

I''m not too worried about mail as we are currently paying ALL of our bills online (gotta love the internet for that). Hmm...hopefully it won''t be too bad.