Some of you are way off base. The only thing the revenue agent is going to do is get your personal information from your plate # and send you certified mail for a scheduled audit.
He doesn't have to talk to the pin heads he has all the information in state computers and public records to get his information.
You can then explain to them why you have a XYZ license and a notable residence in that state for 6+ months a year yet think you can set up a LLC solely to avoid paying sales tax on your motorhome which is parked in your driveway.
He isn't going to arrest you, he is going to audit you. You will end up paying if caught. Take the chance, thats fine just don't be surprised if the tax man comes knocking and don't expect sympathy or people to say "Yah ra ra ra man you are screwing the system and the rest of the tax payers THANK YOU!" because most likely we won't.
In my eyes you are an ()0() not a hero. No that isn't a zero.
* This post was
edited 06/26/08 04:00pm by Aridon *
I was parked for a week beside a Dynasty with Montana plates on it, Michigan plates on the toad, and a painted legend under the RV's passenger door window that said "Susie and John, Grand Rapids, Michigan"(names changed to protect me).
Because I share your attitude about this sort of thing I never talked to them the entire week. It was the least I could do.
* This post was
edited 06/26/08 04:07pm by stouffer *
morsecodeham wrote: . . . If someone from MT was asking questions in the state of IL, I'd tell them to get lost.
The earlier guess was that the agent was from Illinois. I would have the following questions RE: the incident.
1) Was the rally held on private property? If so, why was the agent allowed to be there doing "inspections" and questioning participants? And I would inform the property owner and Newmar that the allowed violation of their customers' privacy is not appreciated.
2) Did the agent have search warrants to do his "research" or probable cause of some kind of crime (which I think still would require a search warrant)? Without a warrant, I don't think anyone is obligated to answer his questions, no matter where their coaches/toads are registered.
I don't mean to seem like a "guilty party" but I do think such an agent doing this type of "inspection" (interrogation) could be a violation of folks' civil rights (5th Amendment??).
By the way, our MH and cars are registered in our state of residence, not Montana.
As a former federal law enforcement officer I think you are way off base on your 3 statements. #1 It would appear that such a rally was open to the public if they were so inclined to participate, therefore it is questionable that it was totally a private event. If the property owner gave permission to the revenue agent to go on the property, other than complain to the property owner, not much the participants could do. #2 No search warrant is required to question someone under any circumstances that I am aware of. No one is required to answer the revenue agent's questions whether he has a search warrant or not. #3 One would have a hard time proving a civil rights violation under the stated circumstances. Again no one is required to respond to any questions posed by the revenue agent but the 5th amendment does not prohibit a law enforcement officer from questioning someone (if the person is a suspect in a criminal case he must be Mirandized before questioning) it merely indicates a person is not required to incriminate him/her self. They can still be questioned, after being given Miranda warnings, if appropriate and agreeing to such questioning. Don't cooperate with the revenue agent if you don't want too, but you are certainly setting yourself up for further scrutiny. Be honest or be quiet.
Miranda requires that a person be in custody before the rights have to be read. The old interpretation of reading them when you focus on a person as a suspect does not apply to the Miranda case. My understanding is that some states may have expanded on the Miranda rule and in those states they may require the reading of rights when you focus on a person as a suspect, but the Miranda case does not require it. There are a lot of different definitions of custody, but it would require too much time to clearly explain it here.
Both mssmith1199 and mandolinguy are correct in stating my explanation re: #3 above applies to a person in custody, although in federal practice we often Mirandized a suspe3ct, prior to quelstioning whether in custody or not. Mssmith1199 is also correct in stating a LEO can question anyone without probable cause in most any situation. Most responses to the contrary come from persons not familar with the laws of the U. S. and/or most states.
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bobcatcharlie wrote: What plates do the UPS's and FedExers of the the world display. My guess is that these states go after the RV world and not the big corp. as to do with tons of corp. lawyers ready to take them on. I bet there a great many vihicles that never enter the state that's on the plate. U-Haul comes to mind.
Each U-Haul truck is registered in the state where the franchisee who owns or leases that particular truck has his franchise registered, they are considered mobile and are constantly being relocated from state to state. On the other hand, my company (the one I work for) is registered in one state and each truck is still registered to my company, but in each state where it is permanently stationed, (were the service tech lives using it).
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT! Wrong. Every U-Haul truck is tagged in Arizona, from vans & pickups to 26' Super Movers. Trailers are tagged all over the place, but TRUCKS all have AZ plates. My friend bought an ex-UHaul 10' Toyota box truck...it hadn't left the Northeast in 5+ years (farthest west it had gone was upstate NY), and until it was taken out of service, was tagged in AZ. When he bought it, he got an Arizona title.
We have half a dozen box trucks at work--ONE is tagged in the state we're based in (Massachusetts). We have one truck tagged in Jersey, a semi tractor with Indiana plates, and three trucks with Connecticut plates. Not a single one of our 50+ trailers are tagged in MA...about 2/3 have Maine plates, the rest are either Oregon or Tennessee.
For that matter, I seem to recall that almost all Greyhounds are registered in Texas.
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Skid Row Joe wrote: This hearsay "agent" story sounds like a BS story to me.
Me too.
Furthermore, we are all worried about someone who is evading paying 5 or 10 grand for taxes, meanwhile we have HUGE corporations registered off shore for the sole purpose of evading taxes. And not only do they do it legally, some are defense contractors.
I love this site. I have never seen a site that has more tax and legal experts as this site has. My suggestion is that if anyone has any questions about their legal situation to contact an expert. There is a lot of false information spread on these forums and some of these posts are just that...false.
You don't go to a Dentist for open heart surgery do you ? I will continue to pay a corporate CPA and attorney for advice before getting it off the internet.
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Aridon wrote: Some of you are way off base. The only thing the revenue agent is going to do is get your personal information from your plate # and send you certified mail for a scheduled audit.
He doesn't have to talk to the pin heads he has all the information in state computers and public records to get his information.
You can then explain to them why you have a XYZ license and a notable residence in that state for 6+ months a year yet think you can set up a LLC solely to avoid paying sales tax on your motorhome which is parked in your driveway.
He isn't going to arrest you, he is going to audit you. You will end up paying if caught. Take the chance, thats fine just don't be surprised if the tax man comes knocking and don't expect sympathy or people to say "Yah ra ra ra man you are screwing the system and the rest of the tax payers THANK YOU!" because most likely we won't.
In my eyes you are an ()0() not a hero. No that isn't a zero.
More unmitigated BS. Your fictional, lewd referenced post makes no sense, and is laughable.
Nothing of the kind has ever happened to law abiding citizens or coach owners.
I've owned and driven my diesel-motorcoaches registered in as many as five different states over a 20 year span.
All 100% tax-compliant and legal.
I think what is getting confused here is if the officer has already determined probable cause. Once probable cause has been established, your rights other than 5th amendment rights start to diminish. Where the confusion comes in is whether probable cause has been established or not. Simply having Montana plates is not enough to establish probable cause, nor is your refusal to answer. Here is the kicker. The things you have in plain view are either enough to establish probable cause or not. It is unlikely that your can create an answer that will lessen the likelihood of further investigation, unless you actually live in Montana most of the time. So you might as well refuse to answer and end the conversation. Assuming there are legal ways to do the LLC thing, you do not want to give an agent any more information than they can already get otherwise. You don't want to strengthen the agent's case, especially if you are legal. In the end, it is about winning the court case, not about what is legal. Loosing a court case does not mean that what you have done is illegal. It just means you lost a battle.
Daveinet wrote: I think what is getting confused here is if the officer has already determined probable cause. Once probable cause has been established, your rights other than 5th amendment rights start to diminish. Where the confusion comes in is whether probable cause has been established or not. Simply having Montana plates is not enough to establish probable cause, nor is your refusal to answer. Here is the kicker. The things you have in plain view are either enough to establish probable cause or not. It is unlikely that your can create an answer that will lessen the likelihood of further investigation, unless you actually live in Montana most of the time. So you might as well refuse to answer and end the conversation. Assuming there are legal ways to do the LLC thing, you do not want to give an agent any more information than they can already get otherwise. You don't want to strengthen the agent's case, especially if you are legal. In the end, it is about winning the court case, not about what is legal. Loosing a court case does not mean that what you have done is illegal. It just means you lost a battle.
Probable cause is a legal term meaning law enforcement then has certain rights once they have established probable cause. For example you can be arrested with probable cause. Your vehicle can be searched with probable cause. A law enforcement officer can talk to you with or without probable cause. There is no requirement to have probable cause to make inquiries about license plates or anything of the sort. There would be a probable cause requirement for the officer to pull you over using red lights, or in some other way demand that you submit to a detention. But if he's just walking around asking questions that is all perfectly legal and no probable cause is required.
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