topic My state of residence doesn't tax military pay, however TurboTax is saying I owe the state nearly $900. How can I fix this because I had to pay last year as well. in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

My state of residence doesn't tax military pay, however TurboTax is saying I owe the state nearly $900. How can I fix this because I had to pay last year as well.

hoxenstormco-gma — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:49:34 GMT

Military Pay received by Service members serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces is exempt from West Virginia income taxes, yet It says I owe the state of WV, and last year I had to pay as well. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding the fact that I don't have to pay the state of WV any taxes, why would I have to owe them?

Re: My state of residence doesn't tax military pay, however TurboTax is saying I owe the state nearly $900. How can I fix this because I had to pay last year as well.

Critter-3 — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 13:27:47 GMT

Did you indicate in the MY INFO section that you were active duty military and claim WV as your state of residence?

Did you indicate that the W-2 was from military pay by completing the follow up screens?

Re: My state of residence doesn't tax military pay, however TurboTax is saying I owe the state ne...

JohnW152 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 16:50:39 GMT

It's important to understand that, if you qualify for an exclusion of your active duty military pay, you may have other income that subjects you to West Virginia's state income tax, accounting for the tax due. The fact that you owed state tax last year would seem to indicate this possibility.

Along the same line, it's worth noting that West Virginia also includes some items in income that your federal return excludes (see Modifications Increasing Federal Adjusted Gross Income on page 4 of Form IT-140), which would result in a WV tax on items that wouldn't be taxed on your federal returns.

And finally, you might also notice that line 34 of Form IT-140 refers to an exclusion of Certain Active Duty Military pay, and refers to taxpayer to page 18 of the form instructions. Apparently not all active duty pay would necessarily be excluded.

Without knowing your overall situation, it's difficult to tell what might be causing what you're seeing. Please provide further clarification if you think it might be helpful.

(The items referenced above can be found in the Forms and Instructions Booklet available at West Virginia's Individuals income tax page.)