What is my state of residency?

[charlotte-m-sloa]

My husband is active duty military with legal residency in New Hampshire. When we married in 2017 my state of residency was Georgia. We have recently PCSed to Virginia and we are going through the process of learning tax law for where my residency will need to be. Looking through Title 50, Chapter 50 it appears that I may be able to either retain Georgia residency or use my husband's state of residency (New Hampshire) for tax filing - Is this true? Or do I have to become a Virginia resident? What should my legal state of residency be on my taxes and how should this be input into Turbo Tax? Thank you in advance!

[DanaB27 · Accepted solution]

Yes, as a nonmilitary spouse, you can choose to use your military spouse's resident state, in your case New Hampshire, when filing your taxes. Please see Military Spouses and State Taxes for additional details. Choosing New Hampshire would be more beneficial since it only taxes interest and dividend income. You would enter New Hampshire when TurboTax askes about the State you lived in in the "My Info" section.

Please follow these instructions to change your state of residence on your tax return:

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