A military state of residence - also referred to as the state of legal residence (SLR) or legal domicile - is the place where the service member primarily resides or the state where they intend to live after leaving the military. An SLR is something that may change throughout your service. For all legal and tax purposes, an SLR is considered to be the service member’s domicile as long as they are on active duty (even if temporarily stationed in a different state).
On the other hand, a service member's home of record - or HOR - is the place from which they entered the military. An HOR may only change if the service member decides to reenlist from another state in the country.
Let’s say that you are originally from Maine. You have moved to Florida to attend college and then joined the military from the same state. You are then assigned to a military base in Texas for the next 10 years, but intend to go back to Maine after leaving the military.
In this example, Florida is your HOR and Maine is your legal SLR even if you never visit the state during service.
Expressing intent to live in another state does not automatically make it your new SLR.
For civilians, legal residence is defined by an individual’s job, where they are registered to vote and where they pay state taxes. Civilians have to provide proof of their intent to move to a different state. The intent may be proven by one of the following actions:
Registering to vote in the new state;
Registering your car in the new state and changing the license plates;
Filing federal and state taxes in the new state;
Buying real estate or a home in the new state;
Having your mail forwarded to your new state.
Those in the military have special rules factored in. Military personnel must file and submit a DD Form 2058 (State of Legal Residence Certificate) to a local finance officer in order to state their intent to live in a specific state after service and legally change their SLR. You will be having the correct state taxes withheld once the form is reviewed and accepted. Entering a different state on paycheck records does not change an SLR.