Military residency pay

[mrlee123]

Hey guys, I matched into Walter Reed starting in 2007. I was talking to a mortgage broker about purchasing a property, and he wanted to know my salary. Does anyone know how or where to look for our base pay and housing allowance and all that kind of thing? Thanks for your help guys. I've gone on the confusing charts on www.dfas.mil and have no idea how to make any sense of it.

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[NavyFP]

Base Pay - 3292.20 per month (CPT w/ <2 years)
Basic Allowance for Subsistance - 192.74 per month
Basic Allowance for Housing - 2245/mon with depend, 1961 w/o dependants
Variable Special Pay - 100/month

Add it up.

 

[Mirror Form]

congrats on matching at walter reed. As soon as you start active duty, make sure to immediately change your state of residency to a state w/o income tax. Also, when adding your income up, keep in mind that you're only paying taxes on the base pay and vsp. BAH and BAS are completely free money. So with all those tax breaks, your effective salary will be a bit higher than you'd otherwise assume from just adding up the different components.

 

[colbgw02]

This information is public domain. I'd tell the mortgage broker to do his job if he wants your business, but that's just me.

 

[navy]

As soon as you start active duty, make sure to immediately change your state of residency to a state w/o income tax.

For the navy...Do you need to have an address in a state w/o income tax in order to claim on of those states as your state of residency?

Thanks.

 

[pathognomonic]

You need to do any three of these five things:

1. sign an affitdavid (sp?) at the JAG office stating your intention to establish residency

2. register to vote in the state

3. get a driver's license in the state

4. own property in the state

5. register a car in the state

Being in the military doesn't allow you to just pick a random state to become a resident of. What it does allow you to do is easily establish residency in any state you might happen to be able to meet three of these requirements in. I became a resident of FL while there for a short training period just by registering my car, getting a DL and registering to vote. In addition, as a military member you can maintain your state residency without having to live in the state. I have been a FL resident for 6 years. I have actually lived in FL for less than 2 of those years. Once you have met the residency requirements you submit a form to PSD. They change your state of residency...and voila...no more state taxes taken out and your LES says "FL" or "TX" (the two states I know of with no state income tax). Until you can meet these requirements for another state, your state of residency is your home of record state.

 

[navy]

You need to do any three of these five things:

1. sign an affitdavid (sp?) at the JAG office stating your intention to establish residency

2. register to vote in the state

3. get a driver's license in the state

4. own property in the state

5. register a car in the state

Being in the military doesn't allow you to just pick a random state to become a resident of. What it does allow you to do is easily establish residency in any state you might happen to be able to meet three of these requirements in. I became a resident of FL while there for a short training period just by registering my car, getting a DL and registering to vote. In addition, as a military member you can maintain your state residency without having to live in the state. I have been a FL resident for 6 years. I have actually lived in FL for less than 2 of those years. Once you have met the residency requirements you submit a form to PSD. They change your state of residency...and voila...no more state taxes taken out and your LES says "FL" or "TX" (the two states I know of with no state income tax). Until you can meet these requirements for another state, your state of residency is your home of record state.

thank you for your great explanation. it is very helpful!

 

[Mirror Form]

You need to do any three of these five things:

1. sign an affitdavid (sp?) at the JAG office stating your intention to establish residency

2. register to vote in the state

3. get a driver's license in the state

4. own property in the state

5. register a car in the state

Being in the military doesn't allow you to just pick a random state to become a resident of. What it does allow you to do is easily establish residency in any state you might happen to be able to meet three of these requirements in. I became a resident of FL while there for a short training period just by registering my car, getting a DL and registering to vote. In addition, as a military member you can maintain your state residency without having to live in the state. I have been a FL resident for 6 years. I have actually lived in FL for less than 2 of those years. Once you have met the residency requirements you submit a form to PSD. They change your state of residency...and voila...no more state taxes taken out and your LES says "FL" or "TX" (the two states I know of with no state income tax). Until you can meet these requirements for another state, your state of residency is your home of record state.

Huh, that might technically be the way to to do it, but those rules aren't necessarily enforced. In the army most people just walk into an office and sign a piece of paper saying their address is "san antonio, tx" or something to that effect. And viola, taxes are changed immediately. Remember, your state of residence is simply the state that you "plan to return to" after finishing active duty. The trick is to re-change your state to the one you really do plan on returning to right before retiring.

 

[paradude]

Huh, that might technically be the way to to do it, but those rules aren't necessarily enforced. In the army most people just walk into an office and sign a piece of paper saying their address is "san antonio, tx" or something to that effect. And viola, taxes are changed immediately. Remember, your state of residence is simply the state that you "plan to return to" after finishing active duty. The trick is to re-change your state to the one you really do plan on returning to right before retiring.

The Army or any other service for that matter may not care but the IRS does and that's were you may run into trouble. I'd go with pathognomonic's advice on this one.

 

[mrlee123]

Thanks for all of your help guys. I really appreciate it!

 

[DrBloodmoney]

Huh, that might technically be the way to to do it, but those rules aren't necessarily enforced. In the army most people just walk into an office and sign a piece of paper saying their address is "san antonio, tx" or something to that effect. And viola, taxes are changed immediately. Remember, your state of residence is simply the state that you "plan to return to" after finishing active duty. The trick is to re-change your state to the one you really do plan on returning to right before retiring.

Bingo.

Also if you don't have any current equity, it's going to be tough to buy anywhere near WRAMC. We decided to rent. The convenience of being closer to WRAMC won over owning far away and driving *hours* everyday (especially if you have to navigate 495, or even worse 270/495 anywhere near rush-hour).