Which state does a military member's spouse report income to?

If the spouse of a military member is in a state only because of the military orders of his or her spouse, the military member and spouse can choose any of the following as their state of residence for tax purposes:

• The military member's state of legal residence.
• The spouse's state of legal residence.
• The state where the military member is stationed.

For example, let's say that you and your spouse are both residents of Ohio and you're stationed at a California military base. You and your nonmilitary spouse can choose to either file a full-year resident Ohio tax return or a full-year resident California tax return and report your wages and personal service business income to the state you choose. However, if either of you had state tax withheld from the other state (such as from a W-2 or 1099), then you would need to file a nonresident return for that state to claim the tax withheld as a refund.

Examples of a personal service business are doctors, lawyers, accountants, carpenters, painters, hairdressers, piano teachers, etc. A personal service business generally does not make, buy, or sell goods to produce income.

See State of Residency if you have more questions about your residency.