Tax help for military filers

It depends on your situation. following are two situations; if neither of these apply to your situation please repost with your specifics.

If you are active duty military and your home of record (resident state) is not NY but you are stationed in NY you do not need to file a NY tax return unless you have income from a NY source.

If you have NY source income you will indicate that in the "My Info" section as "Other State Income."  When you enter your Active duty military W2 be sure to select "Active Duty Military Pay" on the special situations page after entering the W2 form information.  This will automatically exclude it from NY.  You will then be able to allocate any other income you have to NY as required in the NY state interview.

If your home of record is NY but you were stationed outside of NY and could be considered non-resident as part of one of the two groups below, you will indicate in "My Info" that you are a NY resident and did not live in another state.  Enter all your income forms again being sure to indicate the "Active Duty Military Pay" in the W2 follow on pages.

When you go through the NY state interview you will change your residency to "Non-resident" NY and you will be presented with the opportunity to allocate income to NY as required.  If you don't have any NY source income you are not required to file a NY return.

Group A

1. You did not maintain any permanent place of abode in New York State during the tax year; and
2. You maintained a permanent place of abode outside New York State during the entire tax year; and
3. You spent 30 days or less (a part of a day is a day for this purpose) in New York State during the tax year.

Group B

1. You were in a foreign country for at least 450 days during any period of 548 consecutive days; and
2. You, your spouse (unless legally separated), and minor children spent 90 days or less in New York State during this 548-day period; and
3. During the nonresident portion of the tax year in which the 548-day period begins, and during the nonresident portion of the tax year in which the 548-day period ends, you were present in New York State for no more than the number of days which bears the same ratio to 90 as the number of days in such portion of the tax year bears to 548. The following formula illustrates this condition:

number of days in the nonresident portion     x     90    =     maximum number of days allowed in New York State
548