Moving to Camas from Hillsboro (Portland, Salem: renters, vehicle registration, insurance)

[Gaylord_Focker]

I'm actually considering making a Bellevue to Portland type move, maybe. How diverse in Camas?

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker

I'm actually considering making a Bellevue to Portland type move, maybe. How diverse in Camas?

You'll get more specific info on Camas (neighborhoods, schools, housing etc) in the Vancouver forum (https://www.city-data.com/forum/vancouver-area/ ), but as a general statement, Camas is a small town, family-oriented suburb of Portland (pop 23,000, roughly) and even by Portland metro standards, not diverse.

[StealthRabbit]

Both Hillsboro and Camas are similar in 'diversity' due to predominance of High Tech. And each are good locations for making a family / career move.

Hillsboro has more Latino.
Neither have many African-Americans,
both have considerable Asian and East Indian / Middle East

Both have high community involvement and scholastic academic focus in schools and choices (Beaverton / Aloha more so than Hillsboro)

Camas is probably less diverse, but has a high number of independent high $$ entrepreneurs and CEO types +/- (due to WA personal tax structure and proximity to PDX.) Hillsboro has a fair number too, due to proximity of their 'corporate jet accessible' airport.

Can't go wrong with either, but there is certain lifestyle and social access that can easily help sway the decision. (Oregon Coast vs Columbia Gorge...'west-side Portland' activities vs Eastside / Central, and Swimming!!! Oregon has 50m public pools and a lot of team swimming. SWWA has very little swimming access availability)

Then there are TAXES. Statistically each state is quite similar on overall tax burden, but that becomes very specific to your; Income (earnings and types), buying habits, Property values and specific actual location. (Property Taxes can vary much within just a few blocks)

Then there are politics. WA and Oregon are very different in their political structure / State initiative / State law process.

Be very discerning if you are self employed or have a business, especially one with high valuation capital equipment and / or employees.
Go to each state's Dept of Revenue and run scenarios for "total cost (and hassle) of doing business in each state."

[AbhiA]

So with all this Covid stuff ongoing, don't want to move the family from Hillsboro at present.
BUT considering my payroll and office has moved to WA, makes sense for me to work from there considering we will save the OR state tax on my pay (currently single earner family).
Company also paying for relocation so my OR registered cars can be transferred to WA registration at 0 cost to me.

Thinking of taking a PG accommodation in Camas for the immediate future and family continues to stay in Hillsboro. Can get the car's registered in WA and local DL there.In the longer term, I want to move them to Camas / Vancouver too, but just don't want to make that shift in coming few months


Hillsboro rental apartment has my and SO's name there. Do I need to worry having two rental residences in two states even though one is a small pg accommodation? How do we prove that I work from WA state and are a tax resident there for state taxation purposes?

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by AbhiA

So with all this Covid stuff ongoing, don't want to move the family from Hillsboro at present.
BUT considering my payroll and office has moved to WA, makes sense for me to work from there considering we will save the OR state tax on my pay (currently single earner family).
Company also paying for relocation so my OR registered cars can be transferred to WA registration at 0 cost to me.

Thinking of taking a PG accommodation in Camas for the immediate future and family continues to stay in Hillsboro. Can get the car's registered in WA and local DL there.In the longer term, I want to move them to Camas / Vancouver too, but just don't want to make that shift in coming few months


Hillsboro rental apartment has my and SO's name there. Do I need to worry having two rental residences in two states even though one is a small pg accommodation? How do we prove that I work from WA state and are a tax resident there for state taxation purposes?

I don't know the answer to your question regarding how OR treats residency status for tax purposes of people who have residency in both states and who are doing what you are proposing.

I will say that they have most certainly seen every single possible tax scheme you can possibly imagine and no doubt hundreds more than you haven't even thought of. Because it has been like this for many decades and they have been dealing with bridge crossers scheming to reduce their taxes for as long as there have been bridges across the Columbia.

What I wouldn't do is rely on any advice you get here.

[StealthRabbit]

Look at Domicile requirements for OR. and consult your CPA or enrolled agent (or find one!)

1) DL and voter registration is key (Primary requirement)
2) Utility connections, mailing addy, vehicle registration (and insured state) are second tier validity
3) CC use and Cell Phone activity can be used to validate true residence.

Know the rules,
Follow the rules.
Do not give reason for state to audit your choices or activities.

Piece of cake if you do it legally. (I would NOT do ANY work from Oregon., no calls, no video conferencing. definitely no daily work duties.) Once you establish WA as primary domicile, then I would use discernment. I did remote assignments in CA, OR, IL, OH, IA, CO, MI. I made sure I never triggered domicile. While in Thailand I would leave every Thursday night and return after midnight Sunday so I only logged 4 days / week 'in-country' so as not to exceed 182 days "in country" / yr. 183 days would 'sink-the-boat' (taxes due) ) Each state / country has it's rules. Know them, follow them.

https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/316.027
https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/...eVrsnRsn=20141
https://www.lanepowell.com/portalres...0No%20More.pdf

[Leisesturm]

I must be missing the gene that makes one so tax averse that they are willing to consider a Hillsboro/Camas dual citizenship lifestyle. My SO insisted we move from Hillsboro to close in NE because that's where she found State employment. Now her commute is 10 minutes by bicycle. Mine is 45 min on MAX but only 3x/wk. And it was worth it.



The statistics for marriages where one or both spouses has a commute in excess of 45min aren't good. Just go over to the Work and Employment forum and look at all the posts from people overjoyed at being forced to work from home. At least one of my wife's colleagues with a 1.5hr (each way) commute has lodged a grievance against the State claiming mental cruelty at being requested to return to in office work after the shut-down is ended.



So, if I understand (I don't) this right, once home in OR I have to go no contact with the world lest some overzealous IRS agent sniff out a scam? Not even cell calls? At what point do the efforts to avoid taxation take a toll on ones quality of life or is the joy of sticking it to the man worth any personal pain? Help me out here because I'm hanged if I see the point.

[texasdiver]

I tend to agree. Those insanely long commutes are just soul-sucking. This is also mostly an American affection as well as most other countries don't have such geographic tax discrepancies. It is also mostly an OR/WA thing as this is one of the only borders within an urban metro area that has such dramatic differences in approaches to taxation. I think there is some of that between Boston and New Hampshire, but the New Hampshire suburbs of Boston are all much further away than Vancouver is from Portland.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

...once home in OR I have to go no contact with the world lest some overzealous IRS agent sniff out a scam? Not even cell calls? ...

IRS doesn't give a rip.

Oregon State Dept of Revenue does...(as do all your nosy neighbors)

Just like in WA, the WSP sets up camera surveillance during commute to Portland to catch WA residents wearing OR auto license plates. Or you can just squeal on your neighbor. https://www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/report-...license-fraud/

The WSP runs the OR registration, then checks local (WA) utility connections. Then you get a warning mailed to you, then a ticket. ~$1000.

Certainly someone making $200k+ and (Needlessly) paying 9% OR income tax might have the perspective to live and work a few miles away from OR. We spent the majority of our 30yr career 11,000 miles apart. Marriage was a honeymoon every time we were able to be together. There are lots of ways to mitigate a simple OR/WA scenario. Often it is OR residents clamoring to get their kids in WA public schools to the tune of 250 families / month.

[Leisesturm]

I'm still wondering if there really was no other way ...