People often use the terms “home of record,” “domicile,” and “residency” interchangeably, but they are three different concepts with different purposes and legal consequences.
Your home of record is the state in which you lived when you enlisted or commissioned in the United States military. Your home of record does not change and determines certain benefits when you leave the military. You may only change your home of record to correct an error, or if you have a break in military service that requires a new enlistment or commission at a later time, from a different state.
Your domicile (also called “state of legal residence”) is the state where you have a fixed and permanent home, which you may leave from time to time due to military orders, business or personal travel, etc., but to where you eventually intend to return. You can only change your domicile when you move to a new state with the intent to make that new state your permanent home. Your domicile is important because military members may pay taxes, register vehicles, vote, etc., in their state of legal residence, rather than the state in which they are stationed. To change your domicile to a new state requires you to do all of the following: (1) be physically present in the new state (not just on vacation, TDY, or another temporary basis with no intent to live there full-time); (2) intend to remain in the new state permanently (in other words, treat the new state as your permanent home); and (3) show intent to abandon your old domicile. When you domicile yourself in a new state, you should go to your unit S-1 office or the finance office to complete DD Form 2058, State of Legal Residence Certificate. This form will authorize the military to adjust your state income tax withholding to the requirements of your new state of legal residence. You can only complete this step after you move to your new state of legal residence.
“Residency” is often confused with “legal residency.” For example, American family members of U.S. service members stationed in Germany may live off-post on the German economy, but this has no legal effect upon their state of domicile or legal residence back in the United States. You do not lose, nor can you change your state of legal residence by virtue of becoming a de facto resident in Europe while you or your sponsor are on orders in Europe.
Example: Captain Jones is living in California when she enlists in the Army. Her home of record is therefore California. She rents out her California home when she gets her first set of orders to Fort Bragg, N.C. While she’s there, she decides to buy another house. She also buys a new car and registers it in North Carolina. She still thinks of California as home though, and is registered to vote and pays taxes as a California resident. Jones physically resides in North Carolina, but she is still domiciled/ a legal resident of California because she has no intent to make North Carolina her permanent home. Jones is next assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. During her in-processing brief, she learns that Texas has no state income tax. Jones decides she wants to make Texas her permanent home. She rents or buys a residence to live in, registers to vote, updates her driver’s license, and registers her car in Texas. Jones has now become a legal resident of the state of Texas. She should submit a new DD Form 2058 to her finance office so that she will no longer have California resident income tax withheld from her pay.
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