Moving from Washington state to Las Vegas

Here’s where things stand as of October 9, 2026. Watch the dates as closely as the rates.

Tax	Washington	Nevada
Income	Starts January 1, 2028: 9.9% of Washington taxable income above a $1 million standard deduction.	No state income tax.
Long-term capital gains	Since 2025: 7% on the first $1 million of taxable gains, 9.9% above that.	No state tax on personal capital gains.
Estate	Deaths from July through December 2026: the first $3 million is excluded, then 10% to 20%.	No estate tax and no inheritance tax.

Income. This is the new one. The income tax begins in 2028, and the math starts from your federal adjusted gross income, as the Department of Revenue explains. The $1 million standard deduction is shared by spouses and registered domestic partners, even if they file separately, so a couple doesn’t get two.

Capital gains. Washington’s capital-gains rates apply to your taxable gain after deductions and exclusions, not to what you sold something for. The 2028 law also gives a credit for capital-gains tax you’ve paid, so adding the two rates together gets you the wrong answer.

Estate. The brackets apply after the exclusion and deductions, and the exclusion is indexed starting in 2027 (rate schedule). Nevada’s estate tax was tied to a federal credit that no longer exists, so no Nevada return has been due for any death since January 1, 2005. That would only change if Congress brought the credit back (Nevada’s guidance). Federal estate tax is its own question either way.

Two more things. Nevada’s ban on a personal income tax is written into its constitution, which makes it hard to change. And Washington’s 2028 tax isn’t settled: it’s been challenged in court, and an initiative to repeal it has qualified for the 2026 ballot. Before you sell anything big, have your adviser check where the lawsuit and the vote ended up.

Washington cares about your domicile, meaning the place you’ve made your permanent home. For the capital-gains tax, Washington assumes you’re still domiciled there until you’ve really changed it. What changes it is the way you live: where you spend your time, where your family and work are, which house you treat as home, your licenses and your records. Buying a house here is one piece of that.

Nevada has an optional declaration of domicile you can file with the district court clerk once you’ve moved. It’s a good document to have, but Washington makes up its own mind.

My advice is to tell your CPA everything, including the messy parts. A spouse who stays behind for a few months, an office you keep in Bellevue, summers on the lake. Those details are worth far more than a folder of forms, and your advisers can only plan around what they know.

This is the one I’d underline. If you’re planning to sell a business or a large block of stock, bring your CPA and attorney in before the deal terms are set. Washington taxes long-term gains on stock and other intangibles if you’re domiciled there on the day of the sale; other assets follow other rules. Moving a few weeks before the money lands doesn’t settle anything on its own.

Your Washington house is simpler. Washington’s capital-gains tax doesn’t apply to real estate you own and sell directly. You’ll still owe the real estate excise tax unless an exemption applies, and the federal home-sale rules have their own requirements. If a company owns the property, the answer can be different.

For that first meeting, bring your planned move date, how everything is owned and the deal terms you expect. Then ask one question: what has to happen before I sign?

Yes. You can live here and still spend July on the water. You just need to plan the house and the calendar together.

Under the 2028 income tax, you can be treated as a resident if you keep a home in Washington and spend more than 183 days there, and any part of a day counts (the residence definition). Domicile is a separate test. So keeping it to 183 days or fewer doesn’t prove you’ve left; it only keeps you clear of one of the two tests.

There’s an estate angle too. Even after you’re domiciled here, Washington real estate and belongings you leave there can still put you on a Washington estate return. Washington looks at your whole estate, not just that house, and taxes the Washington share, so even a home worth less than the exclusion can matter.

If keeping the house fits your life, keep it. Just have your CPA and estate attorney walk you through what owning it, and coming back every summer, really means.

Nevada doesn’t tax your personal income, but businesses do pay tax here. The Commerce Tax applies to Nevada gross revenue above $4 million a year, and the Modified Business Tax applies to payroll. Moving your family, moving your company and selling your company are three separate decisions.

And some Washington income follows you: work you do there, a rental you keep or a business that operates there can still be taxed under the 2028 rules.

Take your wills, trusts and powers of attorney to your attorney, along with how each property is titled. A new state is a good moment to make sure the plan still does what you want.

A January afternoon can mean a long walk, a round of golf or a table in the sun. The average January high at the Las Vegas airport is about 59°F. At Sea-Tac it’s 48°F, and at Spokane it’s 35°F (NOAA’s 1991–2020 averages).

Then there’s July. Our average low is 82°F. That’s warmer than Seattle’s average July high of 77.4°F. Spokane has hot summer afternoons too, but its nights cool off in a way ours don’t. So if you’re thinking, “I’ve done Eastern Washington heat, I’ll be fine,” you’re about half right.

Summer here has a rhythm. You walk the dog early, eat breakfast in the shade, run errands in the morning and spend the afternoon inside or in the pool. That’s why, when we tour, I pay so much attention to where the afternoon sun lands, whether the covered patio is usable and how the bedrooms cool. If you can, come once when it’s hot. January shows you why you’d move. July shows you which house you could live in.

If you plan to spend summers in Washington, you’ll want someone checking on the house while you’re gone: the AC, the irrigation, the pool.

If golf, tennis or pickleball is a big part of how you want to live, shop for the club as carefully as you shop for the house. Most of the big communities have one, and their memberships vary a lot; I go through them community by community in the next chapter.

Here’s one that surprises people: buying a home on a golf course doesn’t give you the right to play it. Membership, initiation fees, dues and guest rules are all separate from the deed, so ask what, if anything, comes with the house.

When you want cooler air, drive up into the Spring Mountains. Lee Canyon has skiing and snowboarding in winter, and chairlift rides, hiking and mountain biking in summer and fall. Snow is never guaranteed, so check conditions before you go (Mount Charleston visitor information).

Closer in, Red Rock Canyon is where people hike, ride, climb and loop the Scenic Drive, which needs a timed-entry reservation in its busy season. If that’s how you’d spend Saturday mornings, it’s a good reason to look at homes on the west side, closer to it.

Part of living here is having a regular dinner spot and saving the big nights for when you want them. Esther’s Kitchen, seasonal Italian in the downtown Arts District, is a good first one to try.

The Smith Center has Broadway tours, the Las Vegas Philharmonic and live music in Myron’s, its smaller room. Look at the calendar for your visit and pick something you’d want to go back for.

And the teams: the Golden Knights, the Raiders and the Aces all play here.

If you’ll be out a few nights a week, drive from the neighborhoods you’re considering at the hour you’d usually head out, and think about the drive home. If big nights out are rare, give more weight to the places you’ll use every week, like the grocery store and the gym.

You don’t have to miss family weekends or summers up north. Seattle and Spokane both have nonstop flights, and Allegiant also flies nonstop from Bellingham and Pasco. Check the days you’d fly, because not every route runs every day.

Think door to door: getting to the airport, the flight times that work for you and the drive at the other end. Do one real round trip before you count on being back every month.

If you fly privately, ask your provider about Henderson Executive Airport, including the special permission it can require during big events.

If you have kids at home, school fit can narrow the search fast. Two private schools to look at are The Meadows School, preschool through 12th grade, and Henderson International, early childhood through middle school. Call admissions about your child’s grade, start date and needs before we build the search around a campus; openings and deadlines vary.

For public schools, use CCSD’s zoning tool to check the exact address for the year you’d enroll. A community’s name or a nearby campus won’t tell you the assignment, and magnet and choice programs have their own applications. Drive the school route on a school day.

Give healthcare the same attention. Confirm your plan’s network, whether practices are taking new patients and how prescriptions and records will move.

Summerlin runs along the western edge of the valley, right up against Red Rock, and it’s a collection of villages. Two homes with a Summerlin address can come with very different days, so I start with the places you’d go every week, then narrow to the neighborhood and the house.

The Ridges has custom-home neighborhoods plus the Fairway Hills condominiums. Its residents’ club, Club Ridges, is separate from the old Bear’s Best golf course, which is being redeveloped as Amara. Amara hasn’t opened yet, so if golf is the whole point, ask me where it stands.

Tournament Hills is another custom-home enclave, in Summerlin’s Hills South village, next to TPC Summerlin and its private memberships. At Red Rock Country Club, the private Mountain course and the public Arroyo course are run separately, and the club sells different golf, sports and social memberships.

Queensridge, close by but its own master plan, has both houses and towers. If a home looks out over the old Badlands golf course, know that the city approved housing on that land, so check what’s planned before you pay for the view.

Southern Highlands is a big master plan in the south valley with several distinct sections. The Estates, Olympia Ridge and the other neighborhoods each deserve their own look, and the master plan as a whole isn’t one gated community. If a home catches your eye, drive its entrance, the streets around it and the routes you’d use every day.

Southern Highlands Golf Club is private, and you need a member to sponsor you, whether or not you live in the community.

In the southwest, Spanish Trail has townhome sections like the Gardens and the Springs and single-family sections like the Carmels and the Links. That lets you live in a golf community with as much or as little house as you want to maintain. The country club offers Full Golf, National and Social memberships.

Henderson is its own city, with plenty of communities inside it. At MacDonald Highlands the views get the attention, but I’d look just as hard at the driveway, the floor plan and the outdoor space. The homes there vary a lot, from big custom houses to Vu Pointe’s single-story paired and detached homes near the DragonRidge clubhouse. DragonRidge has Full Golf and Social memberships, so pick the one that matches what you’d use.

At Anthem Country Club, the homeowners association and the club are separate organizations, and the club sells Social and Golf memberships to residents and nonresidents.

Lake Las Vegas feels completely different: neighborhoods around a lake, each with its own stretch of shore and its own mix of homes. Reflection Bay takes tee times from nonresidents, while SouthShore’s course is private. Check exactly which lake, dock and club privileges come with the home you’re looking at.

Seven Hills is another good comparison, with several sections and different gate setups. The former Rio Secco course beside it now runs as Serket.

At the same price, an older custom home, a newer builder home, an attached villa and a high-rise condo can give you completely different lives. A bigger floor plan often matters less than a comfortable single-story layout, a real guest suite or an outdoor dining area you’ll use most of the year.

When we tour, I’ll point out the things listing photos skip: privacy from the patio, which way the windows face, shade, storage and what needs doing before you move in. If you’re paying for a view, ask what can be built on the land next door. For a condo or attached home, find out exactly what the association takes care of.

Once we have a shortlist, I’ll pull recent comparable sales for those specific homes. A ZIP-code median mixes in houses outside the community and can’t price a custom home. With a builder home, compare the finished house you’d really get, with your options and terms, not the base price.

The neighborhood guide is there if you want to explore further. Just don’t go looking for the Las Vegas version of your Washington neighborhood. Look for the house and the routine you want.

For every finalist, collect the property-tax estimate, an insurance quote, every HOA charge and any club costs you’ll take on. Then add furnishing or renovation, cooling, pool service and landscaping. If you’ll be in Washington for summers, add someone to look after the house while you’re gone.

Property tax works differently here. Nevada’s 3% cap on a primary home limits how much a qualifying tax bill can go up each year; it isn’t a 3% tax rate. When a house sells, the county checks whether it still qualifies for the primary-home cap under the new owner, so the seller’s bill isn’t a reliable guide to yours. Confirm the assessment and your eligibility with the Clark County Assessor.

Ask which master and neighborhood associations apply, what the dues cover and whether any assessments or big projects are coming. Then read the rules against how you’ll live: family visiting, pets, parking, remodeling or renting the place out someday. On most HOA resales, Nevada law requires a package of the association’s documents, and I’ll make sure you get it and know your deadlines.

You may hear “SID” or “LID.” Those are special assessments that pay for streets, sewers and other public work in some neighborhoods, billed on top of any HOA dues. If a home has one, get the balance, the installments and the payoff terms.

Get an insurance quote on the actual house before you commit. Standard homeowners policies usually exclude flood and earthquake damage. Ask about replacement cost, exclusions and any rules for when the house sits empty for long stretches.

First, tell me what you want life here to look like: when you’d like to move, what you want to spend on the house and on keeping it up, the layout you need and the places you’ll go every week. What do you love about your house in Washington, and what would you change? “A real office, room for the grandkids and everything on one level” tells me far more than a list of neighborhood names.

Tell me about your timing too: a Washington sale, a school calendar, tax planning that’s still in progress. I’ll plan the search around the dates you and your advisers set.

Then I go to work. I take the long list of homes and communities and cut it down to a shortlist, the ones worth the trip.

Once the shortlist is set, you come down for a weekend or so, and I drive you to every house and show you each one myself. Between houses you’ll see what a listing never shows: the drive in from the main road, where the closest grocery store is, what the street is like. By the end of the weekend, you’ll have a feel for which parts of town suit you.

Build in an hour or two for your own errands: the route to the school or the doctor’s office, a café you might make your regular, something you’d want to do every week. If a club matters, set up a visit and ask about memberships directly.

And picture yourself living in each house. Carrying groceries in from the garage. Where guests would sleep compared with your bedroom. Where you’d have your coffee in the morning.

Before you leave, we’ll write down what’s still open on each house you like: condition questions, documents to read, HOA and club terms, insurance, any money or family decisions. Then we’ll decide who’s tracking down each answer. Even if you don’t pick a house that weekend, you’ll fly home knowing exactly what you’re looking for. And if a second trip would help, it can be a shorter one: the two or three finalists, another look at a street at a different time of day, or a meeting with a builder or a club.

Some people would rather not travel at all, and that’s fine. If you’re buying sight unseen, I’ll send you all the video you want and tell you exactly what I think of each house: how it feels to walk through, what the photos leave out and whether I’d keep looking. Tell me what you need to see, whether that’s the street, how the rooms connect, the stairs, storage, the garage or the backyard. I’ll also show you what the neighbors can see and how much noise there is. And if anything would make you want to see a house in person after all, tell me up front.

Video shows a lot, but it can’t tell you everything about a home’s condition. Get an independent inspection, and leave time within your contract deadlines to understand what it finds. The CFPB’s inspection guide explains why you want an inspector who works for you. Agree ahead of time on who’ll be there, how you’ll get the full report and how you can ask the inspector questions.

Before you assume you can do everything from Washington, check with your lender and the title company about signing, ID checks and whether anyone has to be there in person. Plan the final walkthrough, the utilities, how you’ll get in and what happens between closing and the day you arrive.

Protect the money. Early on, save trusted phone numbers for me and for your escrow officer, and confirm any wire instructions by calling those saved numbers. If a last-minute email shows up with new bank details, call the number you already have, never one in the new message. It takes two minutes, and it’s exactly what the CFPB recommends.

My job is to make buying the house as easy as I can, and when you’re deciding from another state, it helps that I answer my own phone.

Settle the money and the Washington sale first. Then line up the day you get the keys with the mover’s delivery window, and plan for storage or a place to stay if there’s a gap. Before you arrive, set up power, water and the other utilities at the new address, make sure the AC works (in summer, that one isn’t optional) and book the internet installation.

Get mover estimates using the same inventory so you’re comparing the same job. Find out who the actual carrier is and whether a broker is involved, and get the services, delivery terms and valuation coverage in writing. FMCSA’s mover questions and liability guide are worth ten minutes. For art, wine and anything fragile or valuable, ask how it’ll be handled, kept at temperature and covered. Don’t assume the standard shipment takes care of it.

Carry your medications, IDs, car titles and registrations, chargers and a few days of essentials yourself. You’ll need some of those originals at the DMV, and you don’t want them stuck on a late truck. Check the road and weather on your actual route before you leave; a desert destination doesn’t mean every mountain pass on the way is clear.

Time the vet paperwork to your travel date. Nevada currently requires a health certificate and a current rabies vaccination for dogs, cats and ferrets, and the certificate is good for 30 days (Nevada’s animal-entry rules). Have your vet check the details for your pet’s species and age, plus any airline rules. And plan a cool, secure spot for pets while the doors are propped open for the movers.

New residents generally have 30 days after becoming a resident to get a Nevada driver’s license. Cars you own and drive here have to be registered within 30 days of becoming a resident or when you get your Nevada license, whichever comes first (DMV licensing questions, the registration law). So if you get your license in week one, the cars are due in week one too.

Before your appointment, line up Nevada car insurance, your documents and any emissions test and VIN inspection. Washington insurance won’t work for Nevada registration, so time the switch with your insurer to avoid a gap. Temporary residents, students and military families have their own exceptions (see the New Resident Guide and insurance requirements).

Update your employer, banks, insurers and any agencies directly. Mail forwarding helps, but it doesn’t reach everyone, and the IRS has its own form for it (Form 8822). Change your voter registration, and keep a record of your move and your trips back.

WA Cares has a one-year window. If you’re eligible and want to stay in the program from out of state, you have to elect it within one year of making your primary home outside Washington. To qualify, you need at least three years of paid premiums, with 500 hours of Washington work in each, and no active exemption. After you opt in, you keep reporting and paying premiums yourself (the eligibility law, participation rules). Check your record before the deadline passes.

Last, go over the optional domicile and homestead filings with your attorney. They do different things and go to different offices. Then get to the fun part: finding the restaurant that becomes your usual and the Saturday trail you’ll end up walking on repeat.