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@Marsha2020 wrote:

What you can't do under the MSRRA

Of course, there are limitations to this law, as you might expect. And remember, these vary state to state, so do your specific state research.

You cannot choose a random state to be your residence. You also can’t “adopt” your service member’s state without having lived there. If a state exempts military income while the service member is on orders, that is not automatically extended to income earned by the military spouse. Also, you have to be able to prove that you have lived there. It’s all clear as mud, right?

See above. Don’t think it’s cut and dried. 

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That's correct as long as we don't look beyond MSRRA.  But then the rules changed (again) with the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018.  Now the spouse of a servicemember may elect to use the same residence for state tax purposes as that of the servicemember.  Best I can tell, they get to do so retroactively to the beginning of the year married.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-115publ407/pdf/PLAW-115publ407.pdf

Are we having fun yet?