Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

And then I also just got a built Palladium card.

I just like very recently learned about, the benefits of that and how they're now accepting SCRA and MLA benefits with that card.

And it's now my new workhorse.

Nice.

But I'm sure once I get to my first duty station, I'm going to switch that.

you know that flexibility like so when i first looked at the program i was like damn this is confusing like i don't have time to figure this out like i don't i don't have like i'm gonna need a phd and in the built ecosystem to figure this out although with like again like with the chat bots right like this is one of those things where it's like you could and i keep waiting for the day that someone comes up with the app right where it's like as soon as you're like in a shop right it's like boom use this card right But, you know, a lot of times you're online, so it doesn't know.

You know, besides the point system being really confusing, it does have the flexibility where, like, for instance, let's say a military service member was deployed and they no longer have, like, rent or maybe let's say they put all their stuff in the storage and they canceled their lease under SCRA.

And then, you know, they can transition instead of collecting the 1X or the 1.25 points.

The question was whether the wages are California source income.

Under the Service Members Civil Relief Act, if a service member receives military orders that require them to move from their home state to another state, their domicile or state of legal residence for tax purposes does not change.

However, the FTB has taken the position that if the service member is permanently stationed outside of California due to permanent change-of-station orders, then they are considered a non-resident and are not subject to California tax on their military income.

All income received or earned prior to the date of the departure is taxable by California.

For non-military taxpayers, their worldwide income is used to compute the rate at which their California source income is taxed.

In contrast, California's computation of tax on California source income of non-resident military members does not include the military wages.

Under the Service Members Civil Relief Act, a tax jurisdiction may not use the, quote, "military compensation of a non-resident service member or their spouse to increase the tax liability imposed on other income earned by the non-resident service member or spouse subject to tax by the jurisdiction," end quote.

As a result, military compensation is excluded from AGI, taxable income, and AMT.

And I'm actually literally writing my second article with Inman as we speak about this.

And that is understanding all the rules and regulations with regards to the Service Members Civil Relief Act or the IRS code.

You know, for example, the IRS code that allows you've all heard of the capital gains exemption.

Right.

You probably know this, but I'll just say it for those people listening.

That's the one card that doesn't waive... annual fees on personal cards under Military Lending Act, but they do under SCRA.

And you know what? Just sidebar, I would love to get American Express, Chase, and Capital One and their lawyers all in one room and just explain to me, like, why? How? Like, what? This is all work because I have been playing this game for, gosh, 15 years now.

And like, I still don't quite understand some of the things they do.

So I don't know if that

would work.

That was one of the questions I had was, does that work for spouses? Like if my fiance opened up VentureX before we got married, could then she claim it after we got married under SCRA? Ooh,

someone just asked me that the other day, and I had a data point about it.

Your general legal assistance, wills, powers of attorney.

People got questions about service members, Civil Relief Act, how that applies to them.

And then sometimes it was, you know, even though they come in under an appointment on an issue that.

And traditionally, as a judge advocate, you're not going to be able to help them with.