West Virginia Military

[imjulier]

Hi-

I have a client that I prepared the federal and state (west virginia) tax retruns for 2008. Husband was in West Virginia for about 15days in 2008 because he was then deployed and sent to Iraq. Spouse and 3 kids were domiciled in W. Virginia. I filed MFJ for federal purposes and state purposes. Client owed about $2K in state taxes and got back all taxes plus some for federal. Client paid taxes and received a notice for penalties and interest. On calling the state to question the notice, whoever the client talked to told them they could amend their W. Virginia return and file as non-resident since they weren't in the state for more than 30 days and none of the income was earned there. Spouse had very little income but they did own several rental properties which sold at a profit with with a loss from the operating portion of the rental. All this to say that the client was a non-resident and spouse was resident and state instructions say that all income is therefore taxed in W. Virginia. Antone from W. Virginia know any different? I'm thinking this was an over-zealous tax agent who didn't know the whole story before giving my client tax advice.

Thanks,

Julie

[kcjenkins]

Military members keep their Home State wherever they are stationed. But many [most?] states have special treatment for military wages. So that is where you should start your research. If he's a WV resident, how WV taxes his wages while deployed, depends on the state law. Every state I ever researched had a special link on their tax site for military.