Posted on Aug 15, 2019
SSG(P) Instructor/Writer
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I have a Soldier who wants to change either their home of record or legal residence for tax purposes. She took the oath of enlistment in NM but is stationed in TX. Big tax differences.
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SFC Retention Operations Nco
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Home of record is a bit more complicated and difficult. Legal residence is an easy switch. They have the form at S1
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SFC Brigade Career Counselor
SFC (Join to see)
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Good answer, but I have not found a single S1 shop that can process it or change it. Most S1 shops say go see retention, or legal....
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SFC Brigade Career Counselor
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legal residence, or current address no problem....Home of record good luck!
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SFC Retention Operations Nco
SFC (Join to see)
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SFC (Join to see) that's a terrible S1 shop then. We at retention can't change that. My S1 has the form sitting right there for everyone.
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CSM Darieus ZaGara
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I would recommend that your Soldier check all benefits associated with Legal Residence. There are far more benefits state to state than simply tax breaks. Simply googled state benefits for Active Duty and Veterans. She might be surprised. Thank you for your service.
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1SG Retired
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You probably be surprised at the number of Soldiers who enlisted in states that tax military pay (HOR), even when not residing in their HOR state, who changed their HOR to TX for the sole purpose of not paying state income tax.
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SFC Brigade Career Counselor
SFC (Join to see)
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I believe you are referring to legal residency but not HOR.
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SFC Ralph E Kelley
SFC Ralph E Kelley
>1 y
SFC (Join to see) - Maybe - but I owned 'Homes' in 4 different states that were considered as legal residency by those states. Using the Kentucky Home of Record as noted in my 201 field file kept me from paying state income (not to be confused with properety tax) taxes in 3 of them.
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SFC Brigade Career Counselor
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SFC Ralph E Kelley yes that is not what im referring to we are talking about the ERB and Home of record not residence
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1SG Retired
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Had my HOR (state I entered service from) taxed my military income I would likely have changed my HOR to TX. That's what I understood folks to do during my period.
What's the risk (based on regulations as I understood them during my period of service)?
Shipment of HHG and transportation costs paid to your HOR upon separation.
Were I to have found myself stationed in TX when I separated, I would have had to pay the difference to ship my HHG and family to WV (not certain if waiver would have been available). I haven't researched to see if there is a restriction on how many times you can change it, but that's the only risk I see.
With regard to state bonuses, WV's Veterans Bonus ($600) required that I "must have been 'bona fide' resident(s) of the state at the time of and at least six months prior to the time I (they) entered into active duty."
By the way, some folks may have state bonuses out there that they aren't aware of. May be worth the Google search.
Whether changing state of residence to impact collection of state income tax (or not) is possible without changing HOR, I defer to the current SMEs on here.
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