Law Allows Spouses to Keep Residency While Under Orders

[The Straight Story]

Law Allows Spouses to Keep Residency While Under Orders


WASHINGTON (NNS) -- A new law protects military spouses from being taxed for work performed in states where they're living outside their home states as a result of military orders.

President Barack Obama signed the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, an amendment to the 2003 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, on Nov. 11.

"This act, among other things, would provide that when a service member leaves his or her home state in accord with military orders, the service member's spouse may retain residency in his or her home state for voting and tax purposes, after relocating from that state to accompany the service member," the president said in a Nov. 12 White House statement.

The new law means a change in fundamental tax law for military spouses, said Army Col. Shawn Shumake, director of legal policy in the office of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

"If a spouse accompanies a military member to a state that is not the spouse's and does so solely to be with the service member under military orders, then the income the spouse earns from services performed in that nondomiciliary state cannot be taxed," said Shumake in a Pentagon Channel interview.

http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=50264