Residency, military dependent, taxes

[Sbutler30]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Maryland

This is way over my head and I hope that I can receive some help here...

My father is in the Air Force so therefore, I have been a military depended my entire life (up until March of 2012). We (my family) were stationed in Ft. Meade MD from 2006-2008, during this time, I receive my provisional license and we were required to move to our new duty station in Ramstien, Germany where we stayed there from 2008-2011 and then moved once more from Ramstein, Germany to Osan AFB, South Korea where my family is currently stationed. I, unfortunately, could not find a job in the 6 months I resided in Korea and was offered a place to live back in Maryland, so I took the offer. I moved back to MD Jan of 2012, filed my federal taxes for 2011 the following April using the address I was residing in. Now, on my 2011 W2, box 15 is left blank because I believe I was NOT a resident of any state. However, the comptroller of Maryland contacted me and said that I need to pay my state taxes for 2011 because their records indicate that I've been living in Maryland SINCE 2007 but they are only asking for state taxes from 2011, not 2010 or 2009. They said I did not sever ties therefore, I remained a resident. The funny thing is when I applied for college in the spring, they said because I had just moved back to MD in Jan 2012, I was not considered a resident because I had not lived there for a full year. They are using my license as proof against me that I am a resident but I have emails with the MVA discussing an "Absent from state" form in order to receive my actual license since my provisional license had been expired over a year as of May 2011.

Is the Comptroller of Maryland correct? Was I still considered a resident despite being a military dependent? Do I still have to file state taxes even though I had been gone for 3 years?

If anyone can help me, I would appreciate it greatly!

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Maryland

This is way over my head and I hope that I can receive some help here...

My father is in the Air Force so therefore, I have been a military depended my entire life (up until March of 2012). We (my family) were stationed in Ft. Meade MD from 2006-2008, during this time, I receive my provisional license and we were required to move to our new duty station in Ramstien, Germany where we stayed there from 2008-2011 and then moved once more from Ramstein, Germany to Osan AFB, South Korea where my family is currently stationed. I, unfortunately, could not find a job in the 6 months I resided in Korea and was offered a place to live back in Maryland, so I took the offer. I moved back to MD Jan of 2012, filed my federal taxes for 2011 the following April using the address I was residing in. Now, on my 2011 W2, box 15 is left blank because I believe I was NOT a resident of any state. However, the comptroller of Maryland contacted me and said that I need to pay my state taxes for 2011 because their records indicate that I've been living in Maryland SINCE 2007 but they are only asking for state taxes from 2011, not 2010 or 2009. They said I did not sever ties therefore, I remained a resident. The funny thing is when I applied for college in the spring, they said because I had just moved back to MD in Jan 2012, I was not considered a resident because I had not lived there for a full year. They are using my license as proof against me that I am a resident but I have emails with the MVA discussing an "Absent from state" form in order to receive my actual license since my provisional license had been expired over a year as of May 2011.

Is the Comptroller of Maryland correct? Was I still considered a resident despite being a military dependent? Do I still have to file state taxes even though I had been gone for 3 years?

If anyone can help me, I would appreciate it greatly!

That is a very interesting situation. Where did your 2011 W2 income generate from, and did the actual W2 leave box 15 blank?
However I would certain think that if MD refused to consider you a resident for in state college tuition purposes that MD would be hard pressed to claim you a resident for income tax purposes.

The Maryland taxpayer ombudsman's service might be a place for you to start to get a resolution of that matter:


http://taxes.marylandtaxes.com/Resource_Library/Taxpayer_Assistance/Contact_Information/Contact_the_Ombudsman.shtml

 

[Stephen1]

Don't confuse the residency rules for taxes with the residency rules for in-state tuition. My experience is that these are governed by separate laws that are different from each other. The legislature could sync these requirements but usually they haven't.

For example, when we were stationed in our home state my spouse returned to college. We had been state residents the entire time we had been stationed elsewhere (voting, car registration, drivers' licenses, taxes) but the college classified her as an out-of-state resident as we had not actually lived w/in the state for the prior entire year. Actually this meant that during the entire time we had been stationed outside our home state that we were not residents of any state for the purposes of college tuition.

The Maryland taxpayer ombudsman sounds like an excellent resource to contact in regard to the taxes.

 

[Sbutler30]

Thank you for responding. I sent the Maryland taxpay ombudsmans service with my inquiry. Hopefully, I'll find out more information. My 2011 W2 was generated from an Air Force agency located in Lackland AFB, TX for my job that I had in Ramstein, Germany. and yes, box 15 was left blank.

 

[LdiJ]

Thank you for responding. I sent the Maryland taxpay ombudsmans service with my inquiry. Hopefully, I'll find out more information. My 2011 W2 was generated from an Air Force agency located in Lackland AFB, TX for my job that I had in Ramstein, Germany. and yes, box 15 was left blank.

I hope that the ombudsman will be able to help you.

 

[davew128]

Don't confuse the residency rules for taxes with the residency rules for in-state tuition. My experience is that these are governed by separate laws that are different from each other. The legislature could sync these requirements but usually they haven't.

Well the legislature in this case CANNOT. Tax residency for stationed military and family is governed by federal law and Congress, not the states.