If you don’t own the vehicle you cannot register it in DC. If you get a ROSA ticket for parking overnight in DC the owner of the vehicle can request an exemption by showing proof of out of state residency, this will be valid for a year.

Can the OP even title someone else's vehicle in DC? I'm not sure this is even legal. It seems like it would be easier to just have the vehicle parked out of the city one day a month.

you are fine parking in a garage.

OP good on you for asking. Now that you're out of college, welcome to being an adult! When you move somewhere, just do it fully. Don't overcomplicate it by sort-of half-moving-but-not-really and creating a bunch of unnecessary tax issues and insurance liabilities. It's going to be easier to do it the right way.

And you didn't ask, but don't rush into buying a home in the burbs so quickly. You're presumably in your early 20s. Take at least a few years and enjoy living in D.C.!

Anonymous wrote:You need to register and insure your car where it is garaged (i.e. where your car spends the night). We went through this when my DH worked out of state before we were able to re-locate with him.

Also, I would be careful about the tax thing-- DC has a 183 day rule for tax residency. I believe you can keep your VA domicile (voting, DL, etc), but if you're in DC over 183 days, you're a tax resident. Because of reciprocity, you might be paying VA taxes on your W-2 if you work in DC. I think that might flip, and you would need to pay DC taxes on your wages *and* all other income (investments etc.) if you spend more than 183 days in DC with an abode (i.e. your apartment).

Some states don't have a 183 day rule for residency but many/most do.

I'm going to go with what others have said-- you really should change your residency to DC.

You don't have a house that you own in VA, or dependents. That's where it's okay and common to live/work in one state and domicile in another-- when you have dependents and a residence (that you own) in that other state. Even in a case like that, most states have a 183 day rule for tax residency-- so a person could pay taxes in two states if the domicile tax rate is higher (we've done that). You really need to domicile in DC--in your situation, it's much cleaner.

You don't even have definite plans to move back to VA-- you might buy in Maryland and you don't know when. Do yourself a favor, work with your parents and their insurance company and move your residence to DC.

You need to register and insure your car where it is garaged (i.e. where your car spends the night). We went through this when my DH worked out of state before we were able to re-locate with him.

Also, I would be careful about the tax thing-- DC has a 183 day rule for tax residency. I believe you can keep your VA domicile (voting, DL, etc), but if you're in DC over 183 days, you're a tax resident. Because of reciprocity, you might be paying VA taxes on your W-2 if you work in DC. I think that might flip, and you would need to pay DC taxes on your wages *and* all other income (investments etc.) if you spend more than 183 days in DC with an abode (i.e. your apartment).

Some states don't have a 183 day rule for residency but many/most do.

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, thanks for response. I plan on still have an address in VA (where my family live) where mail (bank, legal docs) goes and pays VA taxes. I sometimes will travel back & forth to my VA family residence. It is my best friend who will sign the rental lease, and I am co-living with her because I am in the process of getting my own place house hunting/buying in VA/MD. Once I made the purchase my house, my best friend will move in with me right away. We may break 1 year contract earlier than we thought and pay the penalties.

I just do not want to make it complicated because this car is owned/registered by my parents (it is not even in my name) and mu parents live in VA. I am just fresh out of college.

You don't say.

Anonymous wrote:Pay taxes where you actually live. Vote where you actually live. It is not worth messing these things up--the consequences are long-lasting.

This is a good point. If you are ever trying to go for a security clearance, this will get flagged and is potentially disqualifying.

Pay taxes where you actually live. Vote where you actually live. It is not worth messing these things up--the consequences are long-lasting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, thanks for response. I plan on still have an address in VA (where my family live) where mail (bank, legal docs) goes and pays VA taxes. I sometimes will travel back & forth to my VA family residence. It is my best friend who will sign the rental lease, and I am co-living with her because I am in the process of getting my own place house hunting/buying in VA/MD. Once I made the purchase my house, my best friend will move in with me right away. We may break 1 year contract earlier than we thought and pay the penalties.

I just do not want to make it complicated because this car is owned/registered by my parents (it is not even in my name) and mu parents live in VA. I am just fresh out of college.

Oh, well if you are just fresh out of college then it is fine to break the DC law that says that a resident needs to title the car in DC. I assume you also plan to not pay DC income taxes since you will use your parents' address? If you are just out of college that is fine to freeload on DC taxpayers paying for public safety, roads, etc.

OP would save money by titling the car and paying taxes in DC. If they are willing to street park, they can save even more.

OP doesn't sound too smart with money.

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, thanks for response. I plan on still have an address in VA (where my family live) where mail (bank, legal docs) goes and pays VA taxes. I sometimes will travel back & forth to my VA family residence. It is my best friend who will sign the rental lease, and I am co-living with her because I am in the process of getting my own place house hunting/buying in VA/MD. Once I made the purchase my house, my best friend will move in with me right away. We may break 1 year contract earlier than we thought and pay the penalties.

I just do not want to make it complicated because this car is owned/registered by my parents (it is not even in my name) and mu parents live in VA. I am just fresh out of college.

Oh, well if you are just fresh out of college then it is fine to break the DC law that says that a resident needs to title the car in DC. I assume you also plan to not pay DC income taxes since you will use your parents' address? If you are just out of college that is fine to freeload on DC taxpayers paying for public safety, roads, etc.

If I were you I would have my parents call their insurance agent and say...
--Hey, we own the title to this car but our son/daughter is the one primarily driving it
--My son/daughter is primarily going to be keeping it in a garage in D.C. for the next six months to a year or so.
--Any changes we need to make to our policy on this car to ensure we're fully covered?

As others have said above, the main thing you don't want to fool around with is messing with your (well in this case, your parents') car insurance company. If the insurance company was told several years ago that this car was going to primarily be spending its nights in a driveway in Arlington and that is not the truth, they will have grounds to deny any claim you make.

People in this region play all sorts of games with car registration and taxes. Now, it's not legal. But you also very likely won't be caught or face any repercussions, particularly if you are parked in a private garage.

Since you're in your first job out of college, there's a very good chance you will pay less in income taxes in DC than in VA. Plus, DC does not have the annual ad valorem car tax. At the $60K level, you pay $200 less in DC income taxes than VA income taxes.

Play with the tax calculator - I think you might be pleasantly surprised by the money you will save registering your car and filing taxes in DC. Once you hit around $90K, Virginia starts to have lower income taxes.


https://smartasset.com/taxes/virginia-tax-calculator

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, thanks for response. I plan on still have an address in VA (where my family live) where mail (bank, legal docs) goes and pays VA taxes. I sometimes will travel back & forth to my VA family residence. It is my best friend who will sign the rental lease, and I am co-living with her because I am in the process of getting my own place house hunting/buying in VA/MD. Once I made the purchase my house, my best friend will move in with me right away. We may break 1 year contract earlier than we thought and pay the penalties.

I just do not want to make it complicated because this car is owned/registered by my parents (it is not even in my name) and mu parents live in VA. I am just fresh out of college.

It doesn't matter.

You must register a vehicle where it will primarily be driven and garaged.

The worst case scenario is that you get into an accident, insurance denies your claim because you are committing insurance fraud by trying to pay lower rates registering outside of DC, and the party that gets injured in your accident comes after your parents' assets. You can only drive w/ out of state tags if you're a student or in the military or soemthing.