Watch: Barack Obama addresses same-sex rulings
Same-sex couples rejoiced outside the U.S. Supreme Court and all across the country on Thursday when two rulings favoured marriage rights and equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
While the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is gone after nearly 17 years, and the Supreme Court has quashed an appeal of the 2010 case that ruled California’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional, the work is not yet over for the LGBT community and its supporters.
There are of course another 37 states that don’t allow same-sex marriage and it will be up to those individual jurisdictions to legalize it.
Wednesday’s Supreme Court decisions are monumental and may very well pave the way for more states to change their stance on marriage equality.
But for those already married, or waiting to be married, there are some logistics yet to be sorted out when it comes to two of the biggest issues surrounding the end of DOMA and the Prop 8 ruling.
Wedding bells in California? Not Yet.
Just because the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by proponents of Proposition 8 — California’s ban on gay marriage – does not mean the doors of the justice of the peace are open for weddings.
In fact, it could be as much as a month before anyone is going to be able to tie the knot in the Golden State.
Backers of Prop 8 have 25 days to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider, The Associated Press reported.
That’s the amount of time the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has to lift a hold it placed on the lower court order before the state can be free to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Gov. Jerry Brown, who applauded Wednesday’s decision, has issued an order for marriage licenses to be issued once the stay on same-sex marriages – in place since Prop 8 passed in the 2008 election — is officially lifted, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In the six months between when California legalized same-sex marriage and the passing of Prop 8, there were 18,000 same-sex marriages in the state of California.
Death and taxes
Edith Windsor is owed US $363,053, plus interest, the Washington Post reports.
Windsor was the first to bring forth a case against DOMA, which did not recognize her marriage to her late wife, Thea Spyer, whom she legally married in Ontario in 2007.
Windsor had to pay taxes on Spyer’s estate that she wouldn’t have had to pay had she been in a heterosexual marriage.
The DOMA ruling means she should be refunded that money.
The end of DOMA could become a major burden for the Internal Revenue Service. The tax agency could now have to amend thousands of tax returns.
Previously, same-sex couples had to file as single. But those that were married prior to the last day of 2012, will have until the end of next tax year – April 15, 2014 – to file for an amendment.
But because the Supreme Court ruling is a federal one, it’s still up to the individual states to decide if they will recognize same-sex marriages and provide the rights that go with them.
That could affect tax filings for those that marry in one state, but live in another.
Although President Barack Obama said recognition of gay unions in the United States should cross state lines and that equal rights should be recognized universally, it’s not up to him. Individual states have to decide if they will legalize same-sex marriage.
But when it comes to filing income taxes, the Internal Revenue Service looks at the state you live and work in, not where you are married.
A column on Forbes‘ website suggested there could be as many as 75,000 amended returns filed for 2013.
“The IRS projects 5.5 million amended income tax returns in 2013, so 75,000 additional returns would represent only a 1.4% increase,” contributor Len Burman wrote.
But Burman wrote that could amount to as much as $200 million in refunds.
Forbes also reported there could be a tax burden for same-sex couples, who are now filing jointly.
Tax credits — such as the child tax credit — could be reduced for couples that are filing together, and they could face other penalties they didn’t have to pay as singles.
A lot of that depends on if their incomes are comparable or if there is a wide gap between their salaries. If the difference is great enough, they could actually get a “marriage bonus.”
“Some couples will see their taxes go up, and other couples will see their taxes go down,” Lee Badgett, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst who has studied the economic impact of same-sex marriage, told Politico.
So far, the IRS has only issued a brief statement on the DOMA ruling:
“We are reviewing the important June 26 Supreme Court decision on the Defense of Marriage Act. We will be working with the Department of Treasury and Department of Justice, and we will move swiftly to provide revised guidance in the near future.”
The Human Rights Campaign has put together a “What This Means for You” guide to explain what the DOMA ruling means for LGBT couples and their spousal benefits, including social security, bankruptcy, student loans and Veteran Spousal Benefits.
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