FORT EUSTIS, Va. –
Although it's early in the year, tax season is just around the corner and each year military families look to get ahead in filing their tax returns. Since 1940, military spouses who accompany servicemembers at their duty station have been required to file their state tax returns in the state their spouses are stationed. This action forced military spouses to become residents of their new state every time there was a permanent change of station.
Nov. 11, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (PL 111-97). This new law ensures that military spouses can now retain the same home of record or residence as the active-duty member, as long as the spouse's reason for leaving the home of record was due to a Permanent Change of Station.
The MSRRA also exempts non-business personal property (most often automobiles) from taxation in the non-domiciliary state when the property is titled in the spouse's name or jointly with the spouse and servicemember.
The MSRRA makes it easier for the spouse to vote in the domiciliary state by absentee ballot. The MSRRA does not allow a military spouse to pick or choose a domicile in any state; domicile is established, not chosen. The spouse must have actually lived there, established it as their domicile, and maintained it as such by forming and maintaining the necessary contacts. Similarly, the MSRRA does not allow a spouse to inherit or assume the military member's domicile upon marriage.
If you are seeking to file your federal or state income taxes or would like more information about the MSRRA, contact the Eustis Tax Center at 878-2343, Langley Tax Center at 225-5777, or log on to
www.jble.af.mil/units/taxcenter.asp.