Under the Veterans Benefit and Transition Act of 2018 can I claim my spouse's state of legal residence if we are currently living in different states (but still married)?

[christygblack]

Until last year, we were living in NC together while he was assigned here. When he received orders to KS, the children and I stayed in NC so our oldest could finish his senior year of high school. At that point, my understanding is that I lost my ability to claim TN as my state of residency under the MSRRA (we own a home in TN and he has always claimed TN as his home of record). May I claim TN again now that the Veterans Benefit and Transition Act of 2018 has been passed? We are still married, just living in different states until this summer.

[KarenJ · Accepted solution]

According to the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act, yes you can claim TN as your home of record, same as your spouse.  This passed right at the end of 2018 and I am sure the states have not yet factored this in. It was signed 12/31/2018 and I can't find any date that this went into effect, so I assume it went into effect on the date of signing.

https://trackbill.com/bill/us-congress-senate-bill-2248-veterans-benefits-and-transition-act-of-2018...

https://www.veterans.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/S.2248%20Section-by-Section.pdf

https://dod.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1740689/official-explains-federal-tax-changes-for-milit...

[mrskarcar]

I called the NC Dept of Revenue in July 2019 and was told they are not honoring the federal law. When I asked what would happen if I just didn’t pay North Carolina taxes and claimed my spouse’s home of record instead, I was told that I would end up owing them plus a penalty. Not sure what the next step is.