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Troops owe IRS $390 million

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About 60,000 active-duty troops and reservists owe the IRS roughly $390 million in back taxes, in part because of confusion caused by frequent overseas deployments and address changes.
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Troops owe IRS $390 million

I am not sure this is what we need them worrying about.

Forgive the penalties and get a good solution in place.
 
kinda wierd overseas deployments in combat zones are tax free to soldiers,and soldiers by law dont have to file their taxes until months after they get back.however i believe soldiers deployed in non combat zones do still have to pay taxes,which any soldier who thinks he doesnt because hes in another country deserves those penalties.

come to think of it,the irs just might be trying to extort money out of the military.this tax year the vast majority of irs audits were to military and low income families.
 
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beerftw said:
kinda wierd overseas deployments in combat zones are tax free to soldiers,and soldiers by law dont have to file their taxes until months after they get back.however i believe soldiers deployed in non combat zones do still have to pay taxes,which any soldier who thinks he doesnt because hes in another country deserves those penalties.

come to think of it,the irs just might be trying to extort money out of the military.this tax year the vast majority of irs audits were to military and low income families.
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Anything to back this up?


Now, what I can't figure out is why you even withhold taxes from a government employee in the first place. Instead of paying someone 50k and taking back 15k in taxes, why not just pay them 35k and skip the extra step?
 
390 million seems like a lot but compared to what the rest of the taxpayers in this country owe every year it is nothing..........Give the troopsome slack.........Democrats don't accept their absentee ballots in presidential elections so that evens it up.
 
Navy Pride said:
390 million seems like a lot but compared to what the rest of the taxpayers in this country owe every year it is nothing..........Give the troopsome slack.........Democrats don't accept their absentee ballots in presidential elections so that evens it up.
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.... This is interesting. Since when?
 
That averages out to $6500 per person. Where is this tax obligation coming from? Do they not have taxes deducted from their payroll checks when they're issued? Are these just estimated numbers based on a lack of filings? Of the "active duty" rolls, how many of those are warzone-active?
 
Why is military income even taxed?

Just pay them a little less and the amount saved on military expenditure should equal the amount collected in income taxes from military personnel.
 
Tucker Case said:
Why is military income even taxed?

Just pay them a little less and the amount saved on military expenditure should equal the amount collected in income taxes from military personnel.
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So some folks can live under the illusion that government employees, "pay taxes".
 
Tucker Case said:
Why is military income even taxed?

Just pay them a little less and the amount saved on military expenditure should equal the amount collected in income taxes from military personnel.
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I still don't understand why this hasn't been done. Why is government pay taxed? The government pays its employees from taxes for god's sake so what we have is a system where the gov't taxes joe smith the civilian, uses his tax dollars to pay military service members and other government employees, then taxes the service member on the money they just paid them.

Now I can understanding taxing Soldiers or other government employees for money earned that did not come from the government, for example if a Soldier has a civilian job like everyone in the Army reserves, then he pays taxes on the portion of his income that does not come from the government. But for Soldiers like myself who's only form of income is government pay, since I have no civilian job, I should be able to file a single form detailing my income as all government for that tax year and get a "check mark" as being good to go.
 
IMO no military personnel should have to pay taxes at all so long as they are on active duty. They are doing far more for this country than many people that never enlist.
 
Wiseone said:
I still don't understand why this hasn't been done. Why is government pay taxed? The government pays its employees from taxes for god's sake so what we have is a system where the gov't taxes joe smith the civilian, uses his tax dollars to pay military service members and other government employees, then taxes the service member on the money they just paid them.

Now I can understanding taxing Soldiers or other government employees for money earned that did not come from the government, for example if a Soldier has a civilian job like everyone in the Army reserves, then he pays taxes on the portion of his income that does not come from the government. But for Soldiers like myself who's only form of income is government pay, since I have no civilian job, I should be able to file a single form detailing my income as all government for that tax year and get a "check mark" as being good to go.
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Probably so they can fill out tax returns like every other American.
 
It's the result of a slow and outdated system (military bureaucracy AND IRS combined):

•Confusion over eligibility rules for a tax break on income earned while serving in combat zones.

•Frequent moves that increase the odds that tax documents are mailed to an old address.

•The risk of deployed troops missing deadlines for response to IRS queries.

The IRS is required to notify military financial service offices when a servicemember is found to be delinquent on taxes. The military investigates the claim, and if it discovers that the servicemember is deployed or hospitalized because of a combat injury, it will seek a halt to IRS enforcement measures.
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Military should be the channel through which military members process taxes/forms/receive notifications because THEY call teh shots, relocate and deploy - that would solve many problems (however: it would create new ones - those new problems wouldn't be quite so damning, though)

right now -as the article states - if you owe the IRS notifies *you* at your last known address - well obviously they shouldn't. Doesn't take a stroke of genius to realize that the military KNOWS where you do live - and can be more likely to keep in touch with you.

Perhaps the real solution would be to have a branch of the IRS purely for military-purposes which bridges this communication gap.
 
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