Military Pay
Resident - If the taxpayer is a resident of Georgia they are subject to Georgia income tax on all income regardless of the source. This includes Active Duty Military Pay. There is an exception to this rule for Combat Zone Pay. To the extent it is included in the Federal AGI, it can be excluded from Georgia taxable income. The program handles this automatically so no manual entries are required for the exclusion.
Nonresident - If the taxpayer is a nonresident of Georgia stationed in Georgia whose only source of income is active duty military pay, they are not required to file an Georgia return.
One spouse is a resident of Georgia and the other is not - A servicemember’s spouse may elect, for income tax purposes, to use the same state of residence as the servicemember. If a servicemember is not a Georgia resident, and is instead a resident of another state, his or her spouse can elect to also be a resident of that state and not a resident of Georgia.
Georgia allows taxpayers to file MFS even when they have filed joint on their federal return. To change the filing status to MFS, from the Georgia resident tax return select:
- Personal Information
- Filing Status - Select MFS, who the return is for, and say YES to repull income and deductions for MFS allocation.
Spouse Income - Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA)
The MSRRA allows military spouses who reside with their service member spouse stationed in a nonresident state on military orders to keep their resident state for tax purposes. This means if the spouse has income from the nonresident state, they are not required to pay taxes to the nonresident state but report this income on their resident state return.
In order to be eligible for the income exemption under the MSRRA in Georgia , the following conditions must be met by the military spouse/employee:
- The servicemember is present in Georgia in compliance with military orders;
- The spouse is in Georgia solely to be with the servicemember;
- The service member maintains domicile in another state; and
- The domicile of the spouse is the same as the domicile of the servicemember or for 2018 and later taxable years, the spouse of the servicemember has elected to use the same residence for purposes of taxation as the servicemember.
If the military spouse meets the eligibility requirements, they can avoid Georgia state tax from being withheld from their pay by providing their employer with a Georgia Form G-4 Employee Withholding.
To claim a refund of taxes withheld from the Georgia income in error, from the nonresident Georgia Tax Return menu select:
- Income Before GA NOL
- Wages, Salaries, Tips, etc.
- Adjustments to State Wages (+/-) - Enter the spouse wages as a negative number.
Note: This is an article on reporting military pay and military spouse pay in the TaxSlayer Pro program. It is not intended as tax advice.
Additional Information: