what to do if you think you are being double taxxed?

Question

Ahem, allow me to elaborate on the above question. I currently reside on a military installation, which by all acounts is government property, however, why is it in PG county people who live on said military installation, but work in a different county are to pay PG county taxes on top of MD state tax on top of Federal tax?? I thought there were laws against paying taxes twice for the same thing? Since when does a military installation belong to a county???? Is this legal??? If not, what are the measures to getting this problem rectified. (I'm never using H&R block again)

Answer 1

I'm retired US Air Force. For two years I was a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance). We received training and were forbidden to take any money. I saved a guy over $30K and he really wanted to share the wealth. Damn. Oh well back to your case. See if you can find one of these folks, you can also talk to the JAG on base.

Good luck, but I think since you work off base, you may be hosed on this one...

Answer 2

There are locations that have city, county, and state taxes all on the same income. The taxes are usually, but not always, based on the residence of the taxpayer. Sometimes they are based on the work location as well.

On the federal return, all these taxes are deductible if you itemize. If you do not itemize, the state and local taxes are considered part of the standard deduction.

There is no law prohibiting local governments from taxing the same income from wages as the federal government taxes.

There is no general provision to exempt residents of US military installations from income tax. There is no provision that US military installations are separate from the county in which they are located. It may be possible that particular localities exempt U. S. military installations from income tax, but I don't know of any examples.