newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Unless I’ve missed something, these people have already paid the price.

But according to our friends at the IRS, members of the United States military owe the IRS around $390 million in back taxes. Roadfish.com reports that the total is made up of 30,000 troops on active duty and another 30,000 on reservist duty.

USA Today reported that tax returns for the military are tougher to file. Problems are likely to arise due to confusion regarding eligibility rules for tax breaks on income earned while serving in combat areas, deployed troops missing IRS deadlines, and frequent moves that result in documents being delivered to the wrong address.

If a service member is delinquent on taxes, the IRS is required to notify military financial service, which investigates the reason behind it.  The IRS puts a levy on paychecks of troops who are delinquent, just as they do to civilians and those in the private sector who are behind in payments.

According to Air Force Times, Michael Sullivan of Fresh Start tax services in Florida, said, “A lot of times that warning notice does not arrive at where they are actually living, and the IRS is only obligated to send it to the most recent address on file. If the IRS can’t contact you, you’re getting an enforcement action.”

IRS figures say that around 4 percent of those retired from the military owe $1.5 billion in back taxes. Active and reserve service members’ delinquency rate is about 2 percent, while the rate of federal civilian employees is nearly 3 percent.