Wait; where’d my refund go?

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jason McCasland
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  With many Airmen stationed here from other states and countries, Louisiana's unique tax laws could prove to be a challenge, or harmful, to service members credit and finances.

The Louisiana Department of Revenue sends many service members at Barksdale bills informing them that they owe state taxes because they filed their federal return from a Louisiana address and not their home of record.

"Military members whether on base or off are affected by the LDR," said Capt. Anna Magazinnik, 2nd Bomb Wing Assistant Staff Judge Advocate. "The LDR looks for people who filed a Federal Tax Return with a Louisiana-based address, and then sends them a bill for unpaid state taxes."

The LDR system can be a few years behind, and this can cause many problems for a service member especially if the member has moved or separated from the military.

"With LDR's time delay, many members may never have received notices," said Magazinnik. "When the member doesn't respond to the bills, or make a payment the LDR can start sending things to collection agencies and also reports that information to credit reports. They [LDR] can also submit a request to the Department of Treasury's Financial Management Service who can offset individual's returns."

Service members that have already had garnishment removed from their Federal return can still get it back.

"If an affected member has already had a garnishment taken we can work with both the member and the LDR to correct the problem," said Magazinnik. "All the individuals have to do is come to the legal office with a copy of their W-2 and orders to Barksdale, and we fill out the form, fax it to the LDR and then the LDR will refund the money to the individuals."

Even with everything the LDR is doing, the Barksdale Legal Office is working to stop this type of thing from happening to local military members.

"Starting this year, the LDR gave us a form that identifies military member's residency to send the LDR so they won't be taxed," she said. "Members can come by our office and fill out the form and we fax it to the LDR. Once it's sent to the LDR it's done, it's not a yearly requirement."

These new forms are located at the Base Tax Center or at the legal office she added.

The most important thing to do when service members receive these notices from the LDR is to bring the notice to the base legal office.

For more information on the Louisiana tax law or questions on the form or the LDR, contact the 2nd BW legal office at 456-2562.