Guilford County: Vehicle Tax Exemption for Nonresident Service Members and Spouses

Federal law, 50 U.S.C. 4001(d), says the personal property of a service member or spouse has no tax situs where the member is stationed under orders, unless it is the member's or spouse's home state or the property is used in a business. The Guilford County Tax Department applies it to the vehicle tax billed with a North Carolina registration. The service member. Give the Tax Department a copy of the Leave and Earnings Statement for the month and year in which the vehicle was registered, showing the Estimated Time of Separation and a home of record in a state other than North Carolina. A member whose LES shows North Carolina pays the tax. The spouse. The page says spouses "may also qualify for exemption if their home of record is the same as the service member's", with the member's LES, the spouse's military ID and an out-of-state driver licence, voter registration card or latest state tax return. Where the page is behind federal law. Requiring the spouse to share the member's home state was the 2009 Act. Since Public Law 117-333 in January 2023, 50 U.S.C. 4001(a)(3) lets a member and spouse elect, for any tax year of the marriage and whenever they married, to use the member's domicile, the spouse's domicile or the member's permanent duty station. A spouse who never lived in the member's home state can elect it, and a spouse refused on the old test should cite section 4001(a)(3).