What do digital nomads list as their mailing / permanent home address for their job, credit cards, bank, etc for state/federal taxation and healthcare benefits as well as passport/state identification?
If you sell your house or move out of your primary residence and become a nomad then what do you list as your mailing address for your bank, state issued identification – all that sort of stuff? Do you pay state taxes and if so how?
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as a (european) digital nomad, the official papers (gov, banks, taxes, etc) go to where ever I reside (so, my registered address) and all commercial communication is electronic, with one (fixed) office address at a commercial re-sender for (possible) snail mail approaches
It’s possible to rent a post office box, either in a fixed location that you return to regularly or near wherever you happen to be at the time. If that sounds like a huge pain, then you’re right. Being constantly on the move is going to make it inherently difficult to have a physical object (mail, packages, etc.) sent to where you are.
Most official documents don’t particularly care if the address on them is outdated. State and local taxes, however, could potentially be a headache. US states generally tax based on place of residence, not place of employment. In principle, you would have to file an income tax return in every state you did any work in. In practice, you might just file taxes in some nominal state of residence (perhaps the one with your PO box) and hope for the best.
If you are a US citizen working as a nomad, you have to pay Federal taxes even if you wander outside the US. You may also have to pay state taxes based on where you lived before you became a nomad or based on separate state tax rules for each of the several states. Depending on the laws, you might want to choose a state as your home base and claim residence there to get a DL and other services.
If you are a non-citizen working in the US, you might be breaking the law unless you have a green card or some other type of work permit. The lack of an address is the least of your problems.
The legal problems here are numerous, and you ought not get legal advice on Reddit. You may need a tax lawyer.
Most people just use the address of friends or family. Yes you pay state taxes, there’s all sorts of weird legal stuff that should happen depending on what state you’re actually in, however its near universally ignored and you just have a single state of residence and act as if all your income is done there. Some people like to find places with low or no state taxes and establish that as their residence for tax purposes (such as Nevada or Florida)
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