Military Income

Time Requirement: 30 minutes

Purpose

Students will learn how to determine which military income is reportable and the status of medical separation pay or combat zone service pay.

Objectives

Determine:

• Which income items received by members of the U.S. Armed Forces are reportable on the tax return, and
• The status of any medical separation pay or pay related to service in a combat zone

Teaching the Lesson

Refer to the Lesson Plan for helpful instructor notes, visual aids, and Internet links. Use questions from the student landing page to prompt students to share what they know about Income.

Refer students who may want to work independently to Publication 4491, Military Income.

Key References

This lesson will refer to the following publications and forms:

• Form 13614-C, Page 2, Part III
• Pub 4012, Tab D, Income
• Pub 3, Armed Services Tax Guide

All references to materials can be found by clicking the Job Aids and Media buttons. There are also links to helpful tools that can be found on the irs.gov public portal. For this lesson, students can link to the following sites for additional help:

• 10 Tips to Ease Tax Time for Military
• What geographic areas are considered combat zones?
• Questions about Military Pay Exclusion — Combat Zone Service

TaxSlayer® Demos and Tutorials

It is recommended to go to the Practice Lab and access the latest TaxSlayer tutorial for this lesson. The TaxSlayer tutorials can be found by going to the Practice Lab and clicking on the link for TaxSlayer IRS training.