Tax Time

Once again, it is tax time and if you have not already heard, members of the armed forces can use TaxCut online free of charge. You need to follow the link from www.MilitaryOneSource.com for free access. I always do the taxes in my home and the opportunity to do it online made it very easy this year. My military W2 was available online at MyPay so I only had to wait for the W2 from my civilian job. When it arrived, I had my wife scan it and e-mail it to me. It only took me 90 minutes to complete both Federal and State returns and submit them electronically.

As a member of the National Guard on active duty during tax time, I always wonder what I should put in the profession box. Do I put my civilian job or do I put Soldier? Then, this year, I began thinking about all the jobs that have been required of me. Since I have been on this island, I have been soldier, teacher, security consultant, and security guard. I have been carpenter, generator mechanic, and electrician. Then, everyone who has ever attended Basic Training is both groundskeeper and janitor. As the team Communications Chief, I am communications systems engineer, dispatcher, network engineer, network administrator, tech support rep, and cable guy.

Every Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) has a designated job description and very little of what I mentioned above is listed in the 18E job description. Instead, it is all covered under the little catch-all at the bottom of every MOS job description, “and all other assigned duties.”