News & True RV Stories

Hi Damon: 

I thought I'd give you a heads up on a situation that has happened to us regarding

sales tax on the Monntain Aire we purchased in 2003.  

We bought the coach from a dealer in CA and took delivery in Nevada.  The coach was

registered in CA and was kept out of state for the required 90 days.  CA audited

the transaction and after sending them our receipts they exempted the sales tax. 

However, 5 years later , the state of NV has assessed us for the tax based on the

fact we were in NV for a period of time after taking delivery.  We appealed but it

appears we have lost and if we don't pay it they will file a lien that will become a

judgement on our credit report and, of course, will remain there until paid. 

The law that NV hangs their hat on states that any personal property that is

purchased from ANY retail dealer and is stored or used in the state of NV (no time

limit specified) is subject to the use (sales) tax.  If sales tax is paid to the

dealer (regardless in where the dealer is) NV will give credit for that against what

they would assess.  I asked them what if a person purchased personal property in a

state that doesn't have sales tax and they said then the credit would be zero!!! 

The NV attorney I hired to pursue this case for us tells me that our case is not

unique and that they have appeal hearings for these cases at least once a month and

the state always wins.  NV is going after every RV that has been delivered in their

state since 1987 when the law was passed. 

The other interesting part of this story is that even if you take delivery in

another state and come to NV for any length of time (not time limit specified), even

for a visit, they can assess the tax under their current law   Kind of makes you

not want to even drive throught NV. 

Ted