The Military Spouse Residency Relief Act – What is that, and why do we need it?

by Karen F.

Yesterday, representatives from Blue Star Families went to Capitol Hill, to show support for an Act that will mean a lot to all military spouses, regardless of service branch.

Representative John Carter (R-Tex) reintroduced the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act. This bill, which passed the House last session, but didn’t get through the Senate before the recess, will give military spouses the same rights as the service member, when it comes to “State of Residence”.

When we move, and some of us move more than others, the service member is allowed to “keep” his/her state of residence (taxes, property, voting) as they go to a different state. However, unless you are a state resident of the few states that allow it, the spouse has to become a resident of the state that they are now living in. That means the spouse has a problem if the car is owned in both names – a lot of military families have vehicles in only the service member’s name because of this! Taxes – which are confusing enough for most of us, become more confusing when Soldier X is filing his taxes in one state, Spouse X files in another (no joint filing of State taxes then) - it gives tax accountants a job, that’s for sure!