Out of state LLC

Lots of questions my apologies ahead of time!

So I found a dead thread on this subject but the posters reasoning was different from mine, they were concerned about taxes, Im looking at truck insurance under a new authority. Not there yet just crunching numbers and formulating a plan if/when that day comes.

I live on the OH/MI line in Michigan (literally I am 30 seconds from Ohio right now at home), our auto insurance is among the highest in the nation while our friends to the south in Ohio have some of the lowest insurance around. Is it possible and legal to have a company registered in Ohio (owned solely by me and have the truck in the companies name) while still being a Michigan resident with a Michigan license and having the truck physically parked when off duty in Michigan? For what it’s worth the outfit I would haul cargo for never leaves the state of Ohio 99% of the time with their runs and I could realistically opt out of the rare Indiana loads. Would that allow me to get Ohio interstate insurance which would be even cheaper but still park in Michigan? I think im like 2/10th of a mile from the border in a very rural area for what that’s worth.

I can use my Ohio buddy’s house as the “physical” address when needed for certain things and rent a PO Box the everything else in the same town as him. My other concern is would there be anyway my buddy could get stuck with something besides my mail or conceivably get into any trouble? He’s cool with helping me out just neither of us wants to get into any trouble of course. I know people and companies do this for tax reasons, like how South Dakota is popular for that or Maine and their license plates, so maybe it works for insurance too. Side question: if this would work for a big rig it would work for a personal vehicle too wouldn’t it? Register and plate it in Ohio under the same company owned by me? I’d save $700 a year that way.

It might seems like a lot of screwing around but an Ohio address would save me nearly 50% on my insurance as quoted through Progressive. If it can be done that kind of savings is well worth the extra hoops to jump through IMO. And yeah moving to Ohio would likely be simpler but I’m slated to inherit a house at some point up here and I was recently offered a killer deal on a home here in Michigan so I might remain here one way or another.

Well if you read this far might as well let me hear your thoughts on this mega post!

Regards

 

No this was 100% a serious question....

To clarify I would not claim my personal residence in Ohio just the company’s location is in Ohio. To my knowledge there is nothing illegal about an out of stater to owning a business in a different state. How many trucks out are owned by or leased to a company that can be many states away and are stored by their drivers/owners in a totally different state. The only thing I found questionable or different form that was me not physically owning property in Ohio but on that point I could rent a home office space off my friend or take him out of the equation and rent an actual office space. Even with that possible rent I would still save thousands.

Do you think this way every time you see a Maine trailer plate because odds are it’s someone taking advantage of a loophole or a state’s policies to save some money and that’s no different than what I am inquiring about.

 

Which does make sense. I guess what I am wondering if the truck is owned by an Ohio LLC which is owned by a Michigan resident qualify.

 

Oh yes more research is needed and to reiterate none of this may never happen at all or be considered and if even if it is it at least a year away if not more.

Now I want to make sure we are on the same page here, as I said to Zvar, I, the individual and owner of perspective company, would fully claim that I live in Michigan in this scenario. The out of state tax is one more thing for me to look into. The Ohio addresses would be 100% for company usage but if there’s a spot for “owners address” on some tax form it would have my Michigan address on it. I would be an employee of a company that I own, my company would write me my paychecks for its own account to be deposited into my personal one. That last part I know is ok because almost every self employed person I know does it that way.

Where I am unclear at is where the line of differentiation between individual and company is drawn, to my knowledge they are technically totally separate entities. If the company is in Ohio and the company owns the truck that would make it an Ohio truck even if the owner of the company lives else where, wouldn’t it? I know growing up many of my early vehicles were retired fleet vehicles from the company my dad owns and the insurance didn’t have his name on it just the companies name and address which wasnt located at our home. Of course he was ultimately responsible for them but there is that blurry line between company and person again.

Now as far as my buddy goes if there’s any risk to him then that part would have to change. As I suggested to Zvar, would renting a spare bedroom of him (with a paper trail of checks) for usage as an office change that? Or go a step further and rent an actual office space else where as my HQ. Those question may be beyond your pay grade or anyone else’s here but it’s worth asking. I know you gave that example of the guy renting the yard hours away but I frankly don’t get how that happened to him. But it did so that is important still. It would actually be practical to park the truck in Ohio too, either at a spot trucks give the city to my south $25 bucks a month to park their trucks and trailers at or even at the facility of the company I would haul exclusively for. It’s all 7-5 operating hours, just commute in my personal vehicle to the truck and head home in my personal vehicle at the end of the day and only bring the truck home to do maintenance or whatever.

 

Yes the trailer plate things is very different for sure but it was more to illustrate that companies will tweak rules to save money. That was more me defending myself as to wanting to maybe save money by playing on how states do things differently.

Yes an underwriter I’m thinking will be the one to tell me how they base coverage by location definitively but you and the others have given me plenty to consider. In reality if things continue half as good as they are now I can afford to pony up for the high dollar Michigan insurance but saving 6 grand is worth looking into in any business I’d say. It’s good to know about the IFTA thing tho, I wasn’t aware that would effect insurance like that, very good to know even if it would help me right away.