My fiancé and I plan to get married soon. We will continue to live in separate states as I am getting deployed soon (they’re not going to move out here only for me to leave right after). My plan currently is for us to keep finances largely separate while married until we start living together, including filing taxes separately. Can I still get them enrolled in tricare in another state while filing taxes separately? Can I still get extra pay for being married? Any guidance on this process?
Getting married but live in separate states?
byu/Local-Excuse8929 inMilitaryFinance
Posted by Local-Excuse8929
2 Comments
Me, AD, married my CIV wife from different countries. Montana proxy marriage, a big sky event is the GOAT!
Keeping finances separate, everyone makes their own choice and that’s actually how we do ours in the house. It’s worked well for a decade.
Tricare, yup, full enrollment can be done from a distance.
Taxes, yup, easy. MFJ (if you want to) and then you each do your own state taxes as needed, depending on the state.
BAH, aka “extra pay”, is earned based largely on the service members location with some exceptions for members placed where depends aren’t, and sometimes able to earn BAH for both locations. Not enough data to give you a solid answer, hit up your pay office.
Just keep everything above board, follow the rules, and you’ll be fine.
Hit up legal and finance.
I’m assuming your new spouse isn’t also active duty.
Your tax filing status doesn’t matter to the military. I would actually just run your tax return both ways when you file to see which is lower.
Your spouse is eligible for Tricare regardless of their location. They may have to enroll in Select. If they want Dental or vision, those are separate enrollments.
You are eligible for a with dependents housing allowance once you’re married. If you’re CONUS, it will be for your location. You can be required to move out of the barracks/dorms once you are getting BAH. The other allowance that can be affected by dependents is COLA, but most people aren’t in eligible locations.