Military Tax Filing

Filing taxes if you are in the military is a lot like filing if you are a civilian The main difference between the two is that military men and women get many more exemptions and tax breaks than the normal person. Anyone who is in the U.S. Armed Forces are eligible for military filing.

Members of the military and their family qualify for a special first-time homebuyer credit. Other federal workers serving outside the U.S. also qualify for this. Basically, if someone in the military buys a home for the first time they can file for a tax break that year. Usually they get a tax credit for a few thousand dollars. Sometimes this credit amount depends on how much they are paying for the property, others depend on how much they put down on the house.

Members of the military also have special rules regarding the economic stimulus payments. Economic stimulus payments were made to most families the past year and probably will be the next year as well. These payments have little to do with the amount you owe on your taxes. Basically they are determined by how much you worked or paid into taxes that year. Military members receive a large stimulus payment than the normal person.

When military people are in active combat zones, meaning that they were deployed to an active location many of them write combat zone at the top of their returns however they do not need to as the Department of Defense informs the IRS of any active military personnel.

Sometimes the Department of Defense misses some people and they will start to receive collection notices. If this happens notices should be sent to the IRS letting them know that the person is in active duty. When someone is in active duty their taxes do not have to be paid on time, as they normally would need to be. Send a letter to the IRS that says combat zone and the deployment date of the person and the IRS will double check it and stop collection activity immediately. Also write combat zone on the envelope so the letter gets to the proper department in a timely manner.

All in all, military taxes are much the same as civilian ones, military personnel generally just end up paying less taxes then the civilians.