Military Tax Prep Near Fort Hood, TX

Military households around Fort Hood carry paperwork of their own: orders, deployment dates, PCS moves, and a spouse's income that may involve more than one state. This guide covers the free help available to service members, where military tax documents live, and what working with a paid preparer looks like.

Moreno Financial Services is veteran-owned and based in Kempner, and military households are a core part of our work. Joel Moreno served in the U.S. Army, and Jessica Moreno, who holds an M.S. in Accountancy and an MBA in Business Analytics, prepares the returns. For the full list of what we prepare, see our tax preparation services.

Same post, and the Army tax center is closed

If last year's paperwork says Fort Cavazos, it is the same post. The installation carries the Fort Hood name again, and the Army's own website for it lives at home.army.mil/hood. The communities around it, from Killeen and Copperas Cove to Harker Heights, Belton, Gatesville, Temple and Lampasas, are the ones we serve, and our page on tax prep and bookkeeping near Fort Hood covers the local side.

One change matters at tax time. Fort Hood's legal assistance office stopped offering tax assistance to service members and retirees, and the notice announcing it pointed people to two options: MilTax first, and a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance location second.

Free help for service members

MilTax is a free tax service from Military OneSource. Its page describes military-specific tax software plus support from consultants, free for active-duty service members, eligible family members, survivors and veterans within a set window after separation or retirement, with eligibility checked through DEERS. The software is seasonal, the consultants are available year-round, and Military OneSource can be reached around the clock by phone or secure chat.

VITA is the other free route, and it is seasonal. United Way of Central Texas has listed First Heroes National Bank, on T.J. Mills Boulevard on the installation, as a site offering VITA help, and visitors without installation access may need a day pass. Call before you go: the bank's appointment line is 254-532-1026. If your return is simple and you qualify, those free options are worth checking first.

Where military tax documents live

The service member's tax statements and Leave and Earnings Statements are in myPay. DFAS says myPay lets you view, print and save your LES and tax statements, and that tax documents from the last four years are available there. Inside myPay, after accepting the terms of use, you select Tax Statement from the homepage.

DFAS also takes requests for mailed copies of current and prior-year tax statements through AskDFAS, and its page for service members handles requests for a prior-year tax statement or LES. Military members keep their mailing address current in DEERS through milConnect, so mailed statements reach them. And DFAS warns that it does not make unsolicited calls regarding debts or pay record errors, nor does it ever ask for payments over the phone.

What the IRS says about the LES

The LES is useful for checking pay items. The IRS lists a preparer who e-files using a last pay stub or a leave and earnings statement, instead of the official wage statement from the employer, as misconduct worth reporting, so it is fair to ask any preparer what they are working from.

Questions worth bringing, and the papers that answer them

Military returns raise real questions about pay items, state residency, moves and deployments. The answers depend on your facts and on rules that do not belong in a general guide, so the IRS Armed Forces' Tax Guide, the IRS page on combat service and Military OneSource's page on the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act are listed under Official sources below. What we can tell you here is which papers let those questions be answered properly:

• The tax statement from myPay for each service member in the household
• A few recent Leave and Earnings Statements, for checking pay items
• PCS orders, move dates and deployment dates for the year
• Home-of-record information
• A spouse's income statements and residency details for every state involved
• Last year's federal and state returns, if you have them

Money help that is not tax prep

Fort Hood's Financial Readiness Program, part of Army Community Service, helps soldiers, families, retirees and Department of War civilian employees manage money, with free classes, workshops and one-on-one counseling. Military OneSource's financial counselors also offer free help in person, by phone and by video. For legal questions such as residency, Military OneSource points to installation legal assistance. None of these is connected to us, and each is worth knowing about.

How we work with military households

It starts with a free 15-minute call, and working with us needs no pass at all: we are off post, based in Kempner. We listen first, tell you honestly whether we can help, and give a clear fee before any paid work begins. Individual returns start at $250, and more complex returns, including military returns, are quoted on the call.

We are the better fit when the year is not simple: a business started on the side, a spouse's self-employment income, a year spread across more than one state, or books that need keeping all year. Once you engage us, we tell you the secure channel for documents, go through the finished return with you before it is filed, and keep answering questions after filing season. Our free tax checklist has a military section to start with.