Gay Realtor confirms LGBT Couples and service providers all over the country are awaiting guidance from the IRS in reference to tax filing, which includes important areas like; Marital deduction ~ Joint filing ~ Health Benefits ~ Time Constraints and others.
Here’s a snipet of what Bloomberg News recently had to say on the matter.
Proceed with care. That’s what bankers, accountants and wealth managers are telling same-sex couples considering financial changes because of the Supreme Court’s rejection of a federal law denying them benefits.
Married couples in states that don’t recognize gay marriage and those who delayed filing their 2012 returns in anticipation of the court’s decision in June are pressing for clarity. After years of fighting for equal tax-and-benefit treatment, married couples now await guidance on how the Internal Revenue Service and federal agencies will implement the ruling. Without it, those who file for tax refunds may end up paying more, not less.
Married couples in states that don’t recognize gay marriage and those who delayed filing their 2012 returns in anticipation of the court’s decision in June are pressing for clarity. Spouses computing whether to seek refunds from prior returns see the three-year statute of limitations for amendments closing as they look to the IRS for details.
“We are desperately awaiting that guidance,” said Shari Levitan, chairwoman of the New England private wealth services group at Holland & Knight LLP in Boston. “The major question for clients is for returns that are still open, and even those that are beyond the statute of limitations, can they be amended?”
Without IRS guidance, couples who extended their 2012 return deadline to Oct. 15 and who live in a state that doesn’t recognize their marriage will probably file their federal returns jointly and disclose they are doing so based on the court’s decision, Levitan said. She serves high-net-worth clients, about 10 percent of them same-sex couples.
“You may have some good for some couples but also some bad lurking out there,” said Levitan of Holland & Knight.
Advisers including Levitan want the IRS to clarify what happens when couples reside and own a home in a state such as Massachusetts, which recognizes gay marriages, as well as a vacation property in Florida, which doesn’t.
“Do we have to treat that property differently for marital deduction purposes because it’s subject to Florida law?” she said.
States will wait to make changes until they see the IRS guidance, said Verenda Smith, deputy director at the Federation of Tax Administrators.
In states that recognize gay marriage the implications of the court’s decision are clearer, Popovich said. It’s a good time to review the beneficiaries of accounts, titles on property, and clauses in wills or trusts, he said.
“Make sure what you’ve done still makes sense,” he said.
Read the Full Story: Bloomberg News