Harnett County: Personal Property 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 Harnett County Tax Department applies it to vehicles and to other personal property such as mobile homes. The service member. Send the most recent Leave and Earnings Statement, showing the ETS date, with the tag number or a copy of the tax bill, to [email protected]. The bill marks with a subscript 1 beside the appraised value whether a full or a 50% exemption has been applied; with the 50% exemption, Lillington's vehicle fees are still payable in full. A leased vehicle is taxed, because the leasing company owns it and cannot claim the member's exemption. Other dependants, real property and business personal property are taxed. The spouse. The page says the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act of 2009 protects a spouse's domicile "if the residence or domicile is the same for both the servicemember and the spouse", and links the Department of Revenue's memo of March 17, 2010 to county assessors as its guidance. Where the county is behind federal law. That memo and that test predate Public Law 117-333 of January 2023, under which 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. A spouse refused on the old test should cite section 4001(a)(3).