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Tax season is quickly approaching and being stationed overseas does not exempt you from filing a tax return.
Active duty W-2’s will be available on myPay starting Wednesday and the Ramstein Tax Center will open on Thursday to assist you in filing your return.
The tax center is located in Ramstein’s Legal Office, Bldg. 2137, across from the Southside Gym. This year’s program, which uses volunteer tax preparers, will guide customers through the tax season. The tax center uses software from the Web site www.militaryonesource.com. Customers will input their own tax data and work with a volunteer.
The Ramstein Tax Center is hosting several Tax Saturday events for EZ filers. The first Tax Saturday is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 6, at the legal office. An EZ filer is someone who is single or without dependents or married, filing jointly, without dependents. All military and Department of Defense civilians are invited to come and file their 1040EZ tax returns. The dates for the additional Tax Saturdays will be announced in mid February.
While you are awaiting the arrival of your W-2, there are several things you can do to prepare to file your return:
1. Start gathering the necessary documents and information to file your taxes:
• Social security cards for you, your spouse and children
• All W-2s
• Any 1099 forms you have received
• Any 1098 forms you have received
• Any K-1 schedules (income from an estate or trust)
• Records of any income from gambling, awards, prizes or jury duty
• Records of any alimony received or paid
• Records of any rent or royalty property income
• Records of educational expenses
• IRA contribution information
• Dependent child-care expenses (including name, address and EIN/SSN of provider)
• Your bank account number and routing number for direct deposit
• A copy of last year’s federal and state returns.
It is important to remember that, when you come into the Ramstein Tax Center for tax assistance, you must bring any applicable documents listed above with you.
You will not be able to access myPay or any other Web site at the tax center to print or access the above documents.
2. Get an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number for Your Spouse. If your spouse is not an American citizen, you can still file a joint return if your spouse has an ITIN. Your spouse can apply for an ITIN by filing a W-7 form, available with instructions on the Internal Revenue Service Web site at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf.
3. Be on the lookout for scams. The IRS has put out a warning about phony e-mails purporting to be from the IRS that are being sent to U.S. citizens in Germany. The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mails to taxpayers, nor does it ask them for PIN numbers or passwords to credit card or bank accounts.
If you have any questions about a letter or e-mail you have received from the IRS before the opening of the tax center, do not hesitate to bring them to the Ramstein Legal Office during normal legal assistance hours.
Check future editions of the Kaiserslautern American for more tax updates and tax tips from the Ramstein Tax Center.
Important information about the tax center
• The Ramstein Tax Center will open on Thursday and remain in operation until June 15.
• The tax center can assist eight people at a time. Hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays. During exercises, holidays and family days, the above hours do not apply.
• People can access the Military OneSource Web site 24 hours a day. Customers can also bring documents into the tax center and a trained volunteer will help until the taxes are filed.
• Computers are available at the tax center to any active-duty servicemember, reservist, De-partment of Defense civilian or dependent who wants to file taxes, even if you don’t need assistance.
• Retirees who work as DOD civilians can access the tax software through www.
militaryonesource.com. They can go to the tax center for assistance. Retirees who are not DOD civilians can call the Legal Office at 06371-47-5911/5912 or 480-5911/5912 for information about filing taxes.
• Appointments are not taken. Tax assistance is on a walk-in basis.
• If you have not filed 2008 taxes because you were either deployed or for some other reason, call the Legal Office at 06371-47-5911/5912 or
480-5911/5912 before coming in.
(Story courtesy of the 86th Airlift Wing Judge Advocate General’s Office)
