Tax Relief for Members of Armed Forces

• General Information
• Notifying the Tax Commission by E-Mail about Combat Zone Service
• Nonresident Military Personnel – Tax Relief
• Combat Related Death Credit
• Additional Resources

General Information

Federal tax laws provide some special benefits for active members of the U.S. Armed Forces, including those serving in combat zones. Utah follows IRS guidelines accordingly.

For federal tax purposes, the U.S. Armed Forces includes officers and enlisted personnel in all regular and reserve units controlled by the Secretaries of Defense, the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Coast Guard is also included, but not the U.S. Merchant Marine or the American Red Cross. However, these and other support personnel may qualify for certain tax deadline extensions because of their service in a combat zone.

See the IRS Web Site for additional federal tax information regarding members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Notifying the Tax Commission by E-Mail about Combat Zone Service

The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA) provides service members with additional tax relief including extensions while they are deployed to a combat zone or overseas contingency operation. Utah follows federal qualification guidelines for this tax relief. See IRS publication 3 for information. Utah will put any payment agreements, collection activities, audits, and return filing requirements on hold for the duration of the deployment plus at least 180 days as provided by the IRS guidelines.

You, your spouse, or your representative should contact the Tax Commission by e-mail at combatzone@utah.gov if you will be serving in a combat zone or overseas contingency operation and need to request this tax relief. In the e-mail provide your name, stateside address, date of birth and date of deployment. Please do not include your social security number or any other confidential or classified information by e-mail.

The Tax Commission cannot provide tax account information by e-mail. Therefore, we will send responses to any questions about the taxpayer’s account by regular mail to the address we have on record for the person, within two business days. We may provide general answers to questions regarding the status of individual combat zone updates via e-mail.

Please submit general tax law questions to taxmaster@utah.gov.

Nonresident Military Personnel – Tax Relief

If you are in the military and married, and one spouse is a full-year Utah resident and the other is a nonresident, special instructions apply to filing your Utah returns. If you file separate federal returns, you must file separate Utah returns. However, if you file a joint federal return, you may file either joint or separate Utah returns.

See Publication 57, Military Personnel Instructions.

Combat Related Death Credit

If a military service member dies as a result of military service in a combat zone, they may be entitled to a nonrefundable tax credit on their TC-40, Utah Individual Income Tax Return. Click here for more information.

Additional Resources

• Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940, United States Code, Title 50, Section 573
• Utah Service Members’ Civil Relief Act, UCA §39-7
• Utah Income Tax Information for Military Personnel and Their Spouses