I was wondering if any traditional ANG or Reserve folks know what (if any) benefits a traditional guardsman gets for tax purposes. I was thinking per-diem and mileage for starters. Any one have an accountant in Maryland you recommend. Thanks in advance.

This may be old:
Military reservists travel expenses. If you are a member of the National Guard or military reserve, you may deserve a deduction for travel expenses to drills or meetings. To qualify, you must travel more than 100 miles and be away from home overnight.

If you qualify, you can deduct the cost of lodging and half the cost of your meals, plus 44.5 cents a mile (and any parking or toll fees) for driving your own car. You get this deduction regardless of whether you itemize.

 

Some states give a tax credit for being a member of the National Guard of that state. Kentucky does this, but only if you are in their National Guard, not the National Guard of another state or the Reserve. All the other deductions are off your federal return.

You can basically do your deductions just like the airline guys do with per diem differential calculations. If you got partial per diem because there was a government mess available and that is what they paid on the voucher, then you can deduct the difference between the IRS per diem rates and what they paid for that locale. I believe you could even swing the deduction for field conditions from the deployed locations. So whatever the IRS international rate is for Afghanistan could be deducted. That is a guess since I am not a tax attorney and haven't been deployed.

If you live non local to your unit and commute from beyond whatever the commute distance is defined as local, then you can deduct any mileage and per diem not paid.

If I go to Del Rio for a week of all AFTP/UTAs, I can get reimbursed my actual gasoline expenses and a few other incidentals on the day of travel. But I don't get per diem or the full mileage. So I still deduct the partial per diem on the day of travel, $27 ish, then the full per diem for the days there, $39 ish, the partial on the day I travel back home, and the round trip mileage for the correct month from the IRS mileage allowance tables minus the pittance they actually paid me.

Uniforms are deductible, if you did not get any uniform allowances or exceeded the amount. So those wonderful new PT uniform accessories, any additional rank insignia or anything is deductible.

Professional dues are also deductible, such as ROA or National Guard Assoc. Anything that makes you better in your job or increases your skills. So, I put my AOPA subscription in since it is a technical journal. Testing fees for the Mil Comp tests for your ratings conversions including the new CFI stuff. You could probably get away with deducting the drive to the FSDO to get the new ratings if one is not located in the same city as the FSDO.

A friend of mine once gave me the following advice. You will go to jail for misreporting/hiding income. You can only pay back back taxes and interest if they disallow a deduction in an audit. Another friend of mine got audited, and he deducted the mileage and parking he paid to drive to the audit on the next year.

Here is a link to some info from the IRS.gov website. Turbotax pretty much walks you through these as well, and I am sure the other tax software does also. If you are paying someone, make sure they are familiar with the military stuff, because reserve expenses are treated better than standard job related stuff, which is why I like to use turbotax.

IRS Courseware - Link & Learn Taxes

This pub is the long and most detailed version.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

 

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212:

On line 24 of the 1040, it says "Certain Business Expenses of Reservists..."

There is a separate form (2106) you have to attach, but in a nutshell, you get to show all the expenses you were not reimbursed for, and a portion of it gets deducted from your AGI. There are two categories: Meals and Entertainment, and Other than that.

Example: my unit pays lodging and usually pays travel. However, their reimbursement rate does not equal the federal deduction per mile. So, I show the difference in what I was reimbursed for and what qualifies under the rules. On IDT status where they gave me nothing, I get to claim it all.

On days when you are on IDT status, you don't get per diem. Look up the per diem for your duty location (or, look at a travel voucher when you are on AT status). You can deduct those meals for each IDT day you performed.

Other expenses, such as squadron dues, or uniform expenses: I think uniform costs are in the clear; I am less certain about dues.

I didn't know about this deduction until 3 years ago; it has saved me a bundle since.

 

Good info so far, I commute greater than 100 miles each way. Also, for Per-Diem, does each drill period/AFTP count for a full day or is it an actual calendar day? Thanks again.

 

I say calendar. (Per Diem being Latin for "Per Day").

I list dues costs, but it could be a grey area if audited (not "officially" required by military reg; but as a practical matter, you have to).

I live in a no-state-income-tax state; so I don't know what happens with state taxes.