(206) 745-2044

Washington voters granted the right to marry to same-sex couples but that doesn’t change a thing as far as the IRS is concerned. The IRS continues to ignore state law and enforce the terms of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which provides that for purposes of any federal statute or regulation, the word “marriage” means a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex. Very briefly, same-sex couples cannot:

*   file as married nor can one file as head of household if the only dependent is the taxpayer’s same-sex spouse.

* If they share children, they cannot both claim each child as a dependant for the dependency deduction on their returns, only one may claim the child.

* Take advantage of the unlimited marital deduction for gifts between spouses.

One DOMA spouse cannot itemize deductions if the other DOMA spouse claims the standard deduction. However, a same-sex spouses may itemize or claim the standard deduction regardless of whether his or her partner itemizes or claims the standard deduction, because they are not spouses under DOMA.