Hello! What date is used to calculate the rate you are paid/and what date does one input for the DPS move date for an Army PPM? Is it the date you depart your installation or the date the moving truck arrives?

I am a Navy reservist that just returned from a MOB last March. I live in Southern California.

I am looking at my W-2 for 2023, and it shows blank for boxes 16 (Stage Wages) and 17 (State Income Tax).

Is this normal?

Do GI Bill and yellow ribbon benefits transferred to a child and used to pay very expensive college tuition for the child who now is a full time student living at home considered the child’s own support? (is the child no longer claimed as a dependent because of the benefits transferred by the parent?)

So I have a tax filing situation question. My spouse is active duty, and I’m a civilian. Our HOR is Florida. At present, our duty station is NC.

Spouse set up a sole proprietorship small business on the side. I file (on behalf of spouse; I’ve always done our taxes) quarterly taxes to NC for said small business. How is that going to work for our federal return? I’ll file a 1040 with Schedule C on the federal level. Since our HOR state still shows Florida on spouse’s LES, I would not worry about needing to file a NC state tax return. But now that I’ve filed both E-500 and E-536 forms with NC, do I need to fill out a NC return?

Any clarification is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Does anybody know the largest multi family house I could buy with a va home loan? I'm looking at one that requires some work but has about 6 units, one of which I would live in.

I enjoy being in the military, but I made the major mistake of staying High 3 instead of BRS which is such a better retirement plan than High 3. Now I don’t get the 5% TSP match which makes it feel like getting to 20 is pointless seeing I will be missing out on so much money in TSP contributions when I go buy mil time back as a GS. Prob would retire as a TSgt or MSgt (AF so slow ass promotions) Is missing out on the 5% contributions such a big deal I should get out and try GS?

I received a direct appointment to USAFA and am leaving in 3 months. I have about 10K saved up in a HYSA, car paid off, investing 25% in TSP. Is there anything else I could do in these 3 months?

I received a direct appointment to USAFA and am leaving in 3 month. I have about 10K saved up in a HYSA, car paid off, investing 25% in TSP. Is there anything else I could do in these 3 months?

My husband is stationed in Colorado. We moved from California. His domicile is California. I live in Colorado with him, but I work remotely for a company in California. Do I have to file state taxes with Colorado? In 2023, I never filed an out of state exemption with my employer. Can I just file taxes for California?
If I choose to change my home residence to Colorado, do I have to file state income taxes with California and Colorado? Basically if I work in California, but live in Colorado, who do I pay state taxes to (if I choose Colorado as my residence).
Also, it would probably be wise to change my residency to Colorado since the taxes are better, right?
Thank you.

I am currently in DEP scheduled to ship out May 20 for navy.

I am 20 yrs old and have accumulated a 401k balance with my current employer around $30k. What do I do with this money once I am active? Does the military have a 401k plan I can roll it over into? If so, how quickly can I do that?

If I get stationed in Germany or Japan, do I get extra pay? Or is it the exact same as in the States? Also, how does tax work?

Checking out of PDS. Is there a benefit to using 14 days TLE or am I better off staying in apartment longer?

Trying to max entitlements because why not?

Hey base has no schools and local schools are not good. We are considering putting our children into a private school.

Does the military offer any kind of assistance for tuition?

If im moving on orders May 31st, when do I need to notify my apartment that I'll be breaking the lease early? From my understanding I would notify them before April 1st. Is that a correct assumption? Thanks!

Still active duty, medically retiring by the end of the year. Purchased in late 2022 in San Diego. Like everyone, I have been getting lots of mail regarding VA interest rate reduction.

I have lived here for over a year, it's my primary residence, planning on staying here for the long haul. Not looking to take out a heloc, just refinance for a lower monthly payment. Interest rate is 6.750%

I've been able to afford it, but when is it a good time to refinance and what should I look out for?

Edit: 2022 not 2020

Im a reservist and just received my deployment orders. I don't leave until AUG 30th. Can I use my orders now to get my credit card interest down or will it only begin AUG 30th?

Help me out and tell me if this makes sense.

We would like to purchase a house for 175-200k. I am a junior O-3 and have been at a duty station just under a year and I suspect I will be at my duty station next two years (correct me if I am wrong) I would like to purchase because I feel as if I am throwing money away renting. The mortgage is significantly less than my rent ($500-600). Not to include a duplex on the second story that pays about $700/month.

However, almost everyone I talk to tries to talk me out of it. Saying repairs are expensive, you wont make money on it, closing costs will negate any profits, etc etc.

Tell me why it is a good or bad idea. Currently paying 2k/month in rent. Mortgage is around $1400-1500/month.

I am pretty new to the real estate game. Really into investing and whatnot. But real estate is definitely new to me.

any E7s retiree that just got out in the last 12 months? What is you monthly gross pension?

So my recruiter is saying I’m not eligible for a accession bonus into active duty as I’m a current officer in the National Guard. Is this true?

I cant find anything online stating so. To clarify, he said I will be eligible to renegotiate my contract for a rentention when I get to my receiving unit.

I am currently scheduling my PCS from my current assignment in June with a report date of 30 September. However, I am also slated to attend a TDY-enroute school in July that ends first week of September.

My plan is to move my family (PPM) to my next assignment in June prior to my TDY-enroute. But I won't be signing into my unit until 30 September due to how my TDY is being paid.

My question is, is there a way to change my BAH to my gaining location starting in June? The difference is about $800/mo. Or will they backdate my BAH to when my family completed travel?

I read into submitting for a BAH waiver but don't want to give up the higher DLA, or with dependent rate TLE/PERDIEM.

I am about to hit 12 years active and received my offer for continuity pay. (2.5x monthly base pay for 4 years service obligation) I also want to transfer my remaining GI bill to my daughter. I initiated the transfer but am afraid that if I complete the transfer and receive the additional service obligation, that my BRS continuity contract will be void because I will already have an additional service obligation.

Has anyone received their BRS continuity offer while already under an ADSO/ADSC for education benefit transfer?

I have a question regarding DLA rates and how/when they are calculated. I pcs'd from tech school sept 22, 2022, by myself (I am married but moved solo before flying back home and performing a dity move). My question is, is DLA calculated based on the orders of the PCS or the dity move dates.

I should also note I recieved the single rates at first and only recieved the difference a few months later after talking with finance.

Quick background: I intend to serve 20 years and have no plans on using my current planned degree . I have one more course to finish my bachelor’s degree but my understanding is that if I finish an undergraduate degree I am no longer eligible for TA except 39 credits to pursue a masters.

I chose to knock out a degree while on shore duty to utilize my free time.

I’m about halfway through my career and am thinking I may be interested in education again as I approach retirement.

Does anyone regret finishing a degree due to closing out future opportunities? Or have any insights that I’m overlooking?

Thanks in advance.

So today I found out you're supposed to file NYS taxes as a "non-resident" because I don't actually live in the state anymore. This is my 5th year filing taxes in the military and my 5th year NOT living in NY. After changing to non-resident I went from owing taxes to actually getting a return. Is there any way I can fix this and get my money back from previous years?

Does the Traditional TSP reduce my taxable income / MAGI?

Some context for the question:

My tax year 2023 MAGI is over $161,000, which prevents me from contributing to a Roth IRA as a single tax filer. I have 3 years left to contribute before I plan to retire. Income will remain roughly the same until then.

In addition, I would not be able to deduct Traditional IRA contributions as I’m covered by a retirement plan and I’m over $83K MAGI. Would this apply to traditional TSP as well? I get TSP matching, which I believe goes by default into traditional. Would those matching contributions be deductible as well?

If the traditional TSP does indeed reduce my MAGI, would it make sense to switch from Roth TSP to traditional TSP in order to continue maxing my Roth IRA? Or would it make more sense to pursue a back door Roth strategy?

I currently applied to the POC-ERP Air Force commissioning program. For this program, I will seperate from active duty to reserves for 2 years to become a full-time student. I am currently 7 years in the Air Force contributing to the High-3 retirement system, will I be able to keep the High-3 contributions or will I be forced to contribute to the Blended Retirement Service when I commission back into the AF?

I'm unsure I'm receiving the right housing entitlement for my situation.

- Only child is living in the US with mother.

- Unmarried

- I'm on an unaccompanied overseas tour.

Found this line from the official DOD Mil Compensation page:

"If a member is serving an UNACCOMPANIED overseas tour, the member is eligible for BAH at the "with dependents" rate, based on the dependent's US residence ZIP Code, plus OHA at the "without dependents" rate, if the member is not furnished government housing overseas."

- I am not receiving this amount.

Is this reference what I should be receiving?

Hey, I joined the ANG a couple months ago and wanted some clarifications. If you are an E-3 and have been to three full drill periods how much should you expect to be paid? Reading the scale available online it looks like it's ~300 per drill weekend so is it ~900 or am I reading it way wrong? My pay is a little backlogged and wanted to see what to expect. It looks like my state doesn't tax military pay either fyi

I’m making some YouTube videos right now just based on my own experience to help with money and I’ve reached a tough spot that I figured I’d ask the brain trust about

While deployed to a combat zone, is it better to do additional traditional TSP contributions (up to the 69k) or just put that money into a taxable brokerage account and invest it in index funds?

Thought process is that your income is already tax free so traditional TSP won’t save you any money there, and when you pull out the gains, it’s taxed as income. If you put it in a taxable brokerage, it’s still tax free but the gains are instead taxed as capital gains instead of income (which is much friendlier)

Let me know if I’m missing something!

This might sound like a dumb question but how do I go about using the va loan to purchase a home