January 17, 2006

It is tax time again and time to find out if Uncle Sam will be kind to you in regards to a refund. It can be a frustrating and stressful time for many military families as the rules of taxable vs. nontaxable income can be very confusing. This is especially true for those in the military who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan for the past year.

Military.com provides a wealth of information for military members regarding the special circumstances that effect their income. These tips as well as links to IRS guidelines can be found at http://www.military.com/Finance/Taxes/0,13397,82,00.html.

The military member's W-2 can be found online through the myPay system. Simply login at http://mypay.dfas.mil to access the W-2 and print a copy for your records.

This year, you can file your taxes for free online. The Department of Defense has announced that it is offering TurboTax at no charge to military members and their families. TurboTax allows the military member to prepare their tax return with step by step instructions. TurboTax also offers the option to file online and therefore speed up the filing process. That also means it will speed up your refund check if you are entitled to one.

To access your free version of TurboTax, please visit www.militaryonesource.com. You will need to create an account that takes less than a minute to complete. When using the website for our own taxes, I found it to be very simple and user friendly. The prompts as you progress through the screens make filing your taxes a cinch. Be sure to save your work along the way to avoid losing what you have completed in case your connection is interrupted.

This is a great benefit that is being provided through the DoD. The online process makes filing fast and easy. It is one benefit we hope the DoD decides to continue to provide for military families.



Stacey Abler is an Army wife who owns the website, http://www.marriedtothearmy.com as well as several Cafepress stores.