Confused about Home of Record vs State of Legal Residence (GA / FL / VA military tax situation)

Hi everyone. I’m hoping someone can help because I genuinely don’t understand how this works.

My wife joined the Navy last year at 32. We did things a little differently than most. We didn’t like the recruiter in Georgia (where we lived), so she worked with a recruiter in Florida through her network. Because she knew she would be going down to Florida multiple times for MEPS, paperwork, swearing in, and eventually her ship date in September, she stayed at a Florida address for the summer during that process and used that address when she enlisted. Since I work remotely, I was down there a lot.

As a result, her Home of Record shows Florida, and she currently isn’t paying state income tax since Florida doesn’t have one.

Here’s where I’m confused:

• We never moved our stuff to Florida. It stayed in Georgia even though she was down there all of summer 2025 and I was down there for about half of that.
• She hasn’t lived in Georgia since July.
• She was physically in Florida for just over two months before shipping out.
• She’s now in A-school/C-school and we’re moving to Virginia Beach, VA at the end of March.
• We are currently renting an apartment in Georgia, but once I move out to join her in Virginia, I won’t have a Georgia address anymore.

When she checks her state withholding page, it shows Florida for tax purposes. I understand that “Home of Record” and “State of Legal Residence” aren’t necessarily the same thing, but I’m not sure what officially applies here or how it affects me.

I would prefer to keep my residency in Georgia. I don’t know if that’s technically called Home of Record for me, but I want Georgia to remain my legal residence. My confusion is: when I leave the Georgia apartment and I physically move to Virginia, how do I maintain Georgia residency without a Georgia address? How does that work with employers.

I’m also wondering whether it would be smarter for me to just claim Florida since that’s what she has now, even though I never actually moved there.

So my two main questions are:

1. Since my wife didn’t pay Georgia state taxes for the military (because she enlisted using a Florida address), does that create any issues for me when we file taxes if I remained in Georgia?
2. Going forward, what is the correct way for me to maintain Georgia residency while living in Virginia as a military spouse — especially if I no longer have a physical Georgia address — or would it be more beneficial (and legal) to switch to Florida instead?

I don't want to do anything wrong. I do not like tax time and I just want to pay what I legally owe and move on. I just genuinely don’t understand how military residency and tax rules interact when things don’t follow the “normal” path. I also do not live near a base to just go to for help. My nearest is Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, or Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robbins. I will go there if someone can help. Maybe I should go to H&R Block?

Any clarity would really help.