Let’s talk about one of the most overlooked financial benefits for military spouses: the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA).
If you’re tired of PCS moves wrecking your paperwork, messing with your taxes, and making voter registration a nightmare, MSRRA is your secret weapon. It allows you to keep your state of legal residence (SLR) instead of resetting everything every time the military sends you somewhere new.
And here’s the best part: Since 2018, you can now choose to claim your service member’s home state, even if you’ve never lived there. That means if your spouse is a resident of Florida, Texas, or another state with no income tax, you can be too.
Yes, really. Let’s break it down.
What MSRRA can do for you
MSRRA stops states from forcing you to change your legal residency just because of a PCS. This means you can:
Keep your home state for tax purposes. If you’re legally a resident of a tax-free state (Florida, Texas, Washington), your duty station state can’t force you to pay income tax.
Vote in your home state, no matter where you live. Even if you’re stationed overseas or across the country, you can vote absentee without having to update your registration every PCS.
Hold onto your driver’s license in many states. Some states let military spouses keep their original license indefinitely, while others require an update if you work, register a vehicle, or claim other local benefits.
If you’ve ever been sidelined by tax surprises, DMV confusion, or voter registration headaches, MSRRA cuts through the red tape.
So you’re not caught off-guard
It doesn’t automatically give you your spouse’s residency. If your service member is a legal resident of Texas, you don’t just “inherit” that status. You have to formally elect it and file the right paperwork.
It doesn’t change property tax laws. If you own a house, local property tax rules still apply, no matter what state you claim for residency.
It doesn’t guarantee in-state tuition. Some schools offer military families in-state rates, but MSRRA doesn’t require them to. Each college sets its own rules.
It doesn’t override business licensing laws. If you run a business, some states still require local registration, even if you claim residency elsewhere.
Knowing what MSRRA doesn’t cover is just as important as knowing what it does, because this is where a lot of people get tripped up.
The 2018 update that changed everything
Before 2018, military spouses could only keep a state of legal residence they had already established. If you got married after your spouse had already claimed a home state, you were out of luck. You had to establish residency on your own.
The 2018 update changed that. Now, military spouses can elect to use their service member’s home state, even if they’ve never lived there.
That means if your spouse is a legal resident of Florida, Texas, or another tax-free state, you can be too. Or, if you’re tired of resetting everything every PCS, you can now align your residency with your service member’s to keep things simple. (It makes it so easy!!) Even more exciting, if you’ve been paying state income tax in your duty station state when you didn’t have to, MSRRA gives you a way out.
But here’s the catch: this isn’t automatic. You have to take steps to claim it.
How to claim your spouse’s residency
Want to switch your residency to your service member’s home state? Here’s how:
Gather your proof. Most states require a marriage certificate, your spouse’s LES, and proof that they’re a legal resident of that state (voter registration, driver’s license, etc.).
File the right paperwork. Some states require a formal residency election form to make the change official.
Update your employer’s tax forms. If you claim a new SLR, make sure your employer stops withholding state taxes from your duty station state. If you don’t, you’ll keep paying taxes you don’t owe.
This can be a major tax benefit but only if you actually file the paperwork.
Why MSRRA matters for milspouses
Think of MSRRA as a way to more financial stability. If your spouse is a legal resident of a tax-free state, claiming that residency could save you thousands in taxes. If you don’t want to re-register to vote every PCS, MSRRA protects the right to not have to re-register to vote every time you move. And, now, you won’t have to keep resetting your residency every time your orders change.
And if you need help figuring it out? Your base legal office can walk you through it.