I am not sure about some of you in the military but I rather enjoy doing finances while deployed.

1. When you see your paycheck you notice there are no federal taxes withheld (except fica, ss, med).

2. You also add in all the combat pay. $250 for family seperation, $225 for Hostile Fire pay, $100 for Hazardous Duty pay.

3. You expenses back on the homefront drop (if you are lucky) since my wife is only spending for herself and my son.

This is where a lot of us in the military get ourselves back in line. I could easily pay off my car loan in the next couple months. But why pay off a 3.9% loan when I can put money in the SDP.

The Savings Deposit Plan is somewhere where deployed service men and women can put in up to $10K and get a guaranteed 10% interest from Uncle Sam.

I was also lucky enough to have internet available for my laptop so I can update Quicken and have easy access to my finances.

- D

Just a slight rant...

This time of year drives me nuts. Not because I have to pay off the CC after Christmas or anything...

What drives me nuts is that I want my money back from the IRS and I am forced to sit here and wait for all the little tax documents to come visit me in the mail.

I am not sure how many of you wait till the last minute to file but I cannot stand waiting even a day once I get the final 1099 or w-2 to get my return filed.

I don't always expect a big check but 1k here or 2k there always helps. Sure, I try to give the least amount throughout the year and all but with my being military I never know how much of my pay will be tax free. So I am forced to go ahead and take a decent amount out.

Anyway, atleast I got my w-2. Now I just need to wait for my wife's w-2 and 3-4 1099-div/int/b or whatever else is coming. I am sure there is something else I am missing aswell...

Doing a quick look ahead to the coming year I am confronted with another familiar situation.

This past year was one that was slightly different from those I am used to. It was the first year I didn't get every cent in federal income taxes back. But that could easily be explained by the fact my wife actually worked most of the year and I had a couple nice raises to boost my income.

This coming year however, we are getting used to our newly born son. As such, the wife doesn't plan on going back to work and I am looking to be deployed for half the year. That will take my adjusted income to under $15K and with the various credits like the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit (which is freakin' awesome if you haven't heard of it) I will most likely get every cent back once again. So Uncle Sam will only be getting my continued military service and not my income (except for Social Security etc).

Back to planning for the upcoming year. Normally when planning my taxes for the year I adjust my withholdings to account for what I plan on owing. There is no reason to give the gov't an interest free loan. But to be completely safe this year I will withhold as if I am not going to get 6 months of tax free income. Better safe then sorry...