Military Filer, Ohio legal resident, stationed in Virginia

[btborden]

Running TurboTax Premier 2020.  I'm Active Duty Military stationed in Virginia with home of record/legal residence in Ohio. My wife is a resident of Virginia. Neither my military pay earned outside of Ohio or my wife's salary earned in Virginia is taxable in Ohio. I run Turbo Tax Ohio and I get $1326 tax due to Ohio and $54,896 of Ohio taxable income and can't figure out why... Help.

Federal Joint AGI: $182,388.

Military income: $115443.24

[DanaB27]

Please make sure that you enter in the "My Info" section "Ohio" for your state and "Virginia" for your spouses state. 

1. Login to your TurboTax Account 
2. Click "My Info" from the left side of your screen
3. Click “Edit” next to your name
4. Please scroll down to “2. Tell us the state(s) you lived in”
5. Repeat for spouse

Please make sure when you enter your W-2 that "Ohio" is listed as your state in box 15 and you check the active duty box on the "Do any of these uncommon situations apply to this W-2?" screen.

For your spouse make sure her W-2 has "Virginia" as her state in box 15.

On your Ohio state return make sure your are listed as a resident and your spouse as a nonresident. TurboTax will ask on the "Military Pay for Ohio Residents Stationed Outside of Ohio" if you qualify for the deduction answer "Yes" and enter your military pay that you received while you were stationed outside of Ohio.

[btborden]

DanaB27,

Thank you for your response. Both Federal and OH State Personal Info sections properly identify my wife and I's state of residence. I've spent quite a bit of time flipping back and forth between the Step by Step view and the Forms view in TT Premier I'm running on my PC trying to figure this out and I think I know what is wrong. According to the Ohio tax help center website my wife's income is eligible for non-resident credit. Turbo Tax doesn't provide in the step by step question or in the review process a place for this credit. I "think" it should go in line 27 of the Ohio Schedule A "Compensation earned by nonresident military servicemembers and their civilian spouses". Key is "nonresident... civilian spouses". I entered line 1 of my Spouses VA W-2 in here but Turbo Tax review doesn't like it. I have sent a email to Ohio Tax Help on this as well asking what I do. Without my wife's non-residency taken into account after my military pay is subtracted from Federal AGI my OH AGI still has a tax owed amount. I never noticed this issue in Turbo Tax in previous years as it is only in 2020 that my triplets turned 17, I lost their $2k deduction, and it tipped me into the tax owed category. I'm certainly not the only OH resident stationed out of OH who is in this boat using Turbo Tax but I can't find this topic addressed in the FAQs or Community. Any additional help would be appreciated.

[TomD8]

@btborden --

Be aware that Section 302 of the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018 (the "VBTA") changed the law so that the spouse of an active duty servicemember may choose to file their state and local taxes as a resident of their servicemember spouse's State of Legal Resident (SLR).

Therefore your wife has the option of filing either as a resident of her own home state of VA, or as a resident of your SLR of Ohio - even if she has no other connection with Ohio.

See page 3 of this reference for more detail:

https://www.jag.navy.mil/legal_services/documents/Info_Paper_2018_SCRA_Amendments.pdf

You can read the actual text of the law here (scroll down to Sec. 302):

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2248/text

The VBTA has been in effect since the 2018 tax year.