I am currently stationed in Georgia and my soon-to-be-be wife lives in Texas. When she eventually moves to me will she have to change her driver's license to Georgia and her residency? Or can she keep her residency and her license in Texas?
Posted by Xicx_nas
2 Comments
Military Spouse Residency Relief ActÂ
No, she will not need to get new license, don’t need to reregister cars, etc.
SCRA, as amended by VAEIA, allows your spouse to maintain her TX residency when she moves to be with you:
*”A spouse of a servicemember shall neither lose nor acquire a residence or domicile for purposes of taxation with respect to the person, personal property, or income of the spouse by reason of being absent or present in any tax jurisdiction of the United States solely to be with the servicemember in compliance with the servicemember’s military orders.”*
SCRA, as amended by VAIEA, *further* allows you and your spouse to choose between either of your residency or your duty station for tax purposes. This means *you* could claim TX residency for no state taxes from now on, too!
*”Election.–For any taxable year of the marriage, a servicemember and the spouse of such servicemember may elect to use for purposes of taxation, regardless of the date on which the marriage of the servicemember and the spouse occurred, any of the following:*
*“(A) The residence or domicile of the servicemember.*
*“(B) The residence or domicile of the spouse.*
*“(C) The permanent duty station of the servicemember.”*
SCRA and its amendments (MSRRA, VBTA, VAEIA) do not specifically address driver’s licenses, so you need to assess each duty station state’s requirements. This is a good article: [https://www.katehorrell.com/military-spouses-and-drivers-licenses/](https://www.katehorrell.com/military-spouses-and-drivers-licenses/)