European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 9, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 9. 1986 the stars and stripes pages  and the military Here s a checklist Tor military returns Washington is us la Laws generally apply to All citizens and Resi poems but the treatment of some types of pay exclusions and deductions should be of special interest to military members an internal Revenue service spokesman said. Spokesman Robert Kobel provided this checklist for  making out their returns taxable Active duly pay. Retirement pay mile age allowance re enlistment Bonus vol. Unwary allotment interest an go life insurance dividends left on Deposit with the veterans administration and pay from former employer. But when reporting retirement pay  should not include the amount by which the pension was reduced to provide an annuity for a spouse or child under the survivor Benefit or other plan Kobel said. P he also said go life insurance dividends not paid to the individual Bui used 10 buy additional paid up life insurance would not be taxable. Not taxable veterans benefits go Bill  and food allowances most com Bat pay disability pay. Allowances for family members reimbursement for per manent change of station expenses such As moving and storage family separation Al Lowance and forfeited p in. Generally the following types of Veter ans benefits arc not unable education training or subsistence allowances disability compensation pensions paid to Veter ans or heir families and insurance proceeds paid to veterans or their beneficiaries. Kobel said housing subsistence and Osl of living allowances paid to service members on a permanent assignment overseas arc not taxable no Mailer what government pays them. In addition several kinds of death Bene fits receive favored tax treatment. Uni form allowances and up to six months1 pay granted to beneficiaries of ii troed services personnel who die in Active service arc not taxable. Further. Inc government forgives entirely the taxes of my service kiember or civilian employee of the government killed or fatally injured in a military or terrorist action outside the United Stales. More information is available in irs publication 559, tax information Tor survivors executors and administrators deductible Epaul Elj Campaign bars reservists local transportation expenses reservists uniforms and in reimbursed maintenance expenses  business travel and transportation expenses. Norden Unble damage to household goods during move officers club dues Cost of visiting Home meals and lodging overseas when permanently assigned Here and uniform expense when uniform takes the place of Ordinary  outside the country on april 15 arc allowed an automatic Exten Sion to june 15 to file their returns Tor he previous year Kobel said. But interest of any tax due the government would have to be paid from april 15. Members who want the Extension must attach a statement to their returns saying they were i,.erscason april 15, he  on taxable and non taxable Mili tary income Are available free in irs pamphlet 525, taxable and non tax Able income he said. The pamphlets May be obtained by mail from the irs distribution Center. Box 25666, Richmond va., 23260. Moving will affect your debt to Uncle Sam Washington is moving to a new assign mint can be one of the most time consuming and expensive tasks a military family faces. Hue Are internal reve nue service answers to commonly asked questions about How a move affects that year s Tana. What s a move for tax purposes it s the move from Home to the first duty station and any move from on permanent duty Post to another. Trie move from the last duty station to Home also qualifies if it comes within a year of the end of Active duty or within the period allowed under the joint travel regulations. What moving expenses Are deductible certain in reimbursed expenses incurred in looking for a new Home before moving shipping possessions travelling to the new Home living temporarily meals and lodging in the new area and Selling the old House and buying the new one. There is no limit to the expense that May be claimed for moving household goods and travelling to the new Home. But the total of expenses claimed for everything else generally May not exceed $3,000, and no More than $1,500 of that May be deducted for the pre move House Hunting trip and temporary living expenses. The government provided some of the moving and storage. How should that show up on a return the value of such services should not be reported As income. Reimbursements or allowances for moving expenses also should not be reported unless they exceed the actual costs. Reimbursed expenses May not be do dated. Do military members have to meet Lime and distance tests no the requirements that people stay on a new Job for a minimum amount of time or move a certain distance to be Able to claim moving expenses do not apply to serv Lee members making permanent changes of station. Where should moving expenses be reported on form 3903, moving expense  Sec Mem Bers who moved to Homes outside the slates should use form 3903 of the foreign moving expense  that form should be attached to the form 1040. Non reimbursed moving expenses should be Dudu Clad from Gross income to determine adjusted Gross income. In reporting the Sale of the old Home the adjusted basis must be determined. That is generally the original Cost increased or reduced by certain amounts. Major improvements that prolong the life of the Home usually increase its basis. But improvements should not be confused with repairs that just maintain the Home in Good condition. The tax on any gain from the Sale will be deferred if a Home of greater value is bought generally the new Home must be bought within two years before or after of the Sale of the old oae. For service members stationed overseas who sold heir Homes after july is 1984. The replacement period is sus Pended while they Are assigned abroad or forced to live on base after returning to an assignment in the Stales be cause adequate off Post housing is not available in a re Mote area. But the replacement period plus any period of suspension cannot last More than eight Yeun after Sale of the Aid Home. For details see irs pamphlet 521, moving  or publication 523, tax information on Selling your  . Might hit soviet subs in non nuke War Navy acknowledges strategy to tip nuclear balance Early in conflict by Michael 8. Cordon Washington not the Navy has officially acknowledged that if a major non nuclear con diet broke out Between the United states and the soviet Union it might seek to attack soviet strategic submarines. The object would be to tip the nuclear balance in favor of the United slates. In the past some senior Navy officials have decl Nedlo commit themselves publicly w such a  an tale View in november the Secretary of the Navy John f Lehman jr., said it was not necessarily .strategy to attack soviet strategic submarines in a non nuclear War. Would turn into a nuclear War. Thinking on the Issue. Navy the United Stales naval Institute Watkins notes in potential for using Navy forces to alter the nuclear equation in favor of the untied states before either Side had used nuclear weapons. This he said could be done by destroying soviet ballistic missile submarines and by deploying . Aircraft carriers and other vessels that carry nuclear weapons around the Periphery of the soviet  Waikiu wrote that the strategy is not without risk and that neither we nor the soviets can Rule out the possibility that escalation will  but he adds escalation solely As a result of actions at sea seems improbable Given the soviet land Orienta  one critic of the strategy Barry r. Posen an assist ant professor at Princeton University we k formerly worked in the defense department called the strategy unduly provocative we Are being asked to spend billions of dollars to buy ammunition and modernize our conventional weapons in order to raise the nuclear threshold in Europe and reduce the risk of nuclear escalation there he said. And Here the us. Navy has selected a strategy that works diametrically in the opposite direction. Of All the possible Navy strategies he said this one is the most Likely to cause the other Side la reach for nuclear weapons. A naval expert said there was still debate within the Navy Over the Wisdom of the strategy and the decision to advertise it. Strategic submarines Are the soviet Union s Strate Gic Reserve Force the naval expert said. If we Start killing their strategic submarines they May go after our aircraft carriers with nuclear weapons. If any thing this strategy will promote  a defense department official however defended the Navy strategy. He said the Navy was not saying it would seek to destroy the entire soviet strategic sub Marine Force in a conventional conflict he also argued that soviet military writings suggested that . Strategic submarines could be the target of a soviet attack in the Early stage of a War. In recent years there has been growing interest in the Navy in developing the ability to attack soviet strategic submarines. The Navy for instance has taken Steps to improve its ability to operate under the Arctic ice where it is thought soviet strategic submarines would try to hide. Last april Welkins went to a Navy base in the Arctic and visited a Navy attack submarine that sur faced through the ice a Navy official said. Watkins later spoke about the trip in an interview with reporters. An Effort was made to make sure that the word got out about the trip a Navy official said in order to Send a signal to the soviet Union about the Navy s intention to improve deterrence by adding to its ability to operate in Polar regions. The Navy has conducted tests of sonar and Torpe does in Arctic regions in recent years military experts said. The Navy is also trying to give some of its los Angeles class submarines More ability to operate under the ice and plans to develop a new attack sub Marine the ssn-21. That is More effective than exist ing submarines in Arctic regions