Question from a website visitor: I live in Nebraska and am in a same-sex marriage. My spouse and I got our marriage license in Iowa. Can we file our Nebraska taxes as a married couple.
Short answer: no.
Longer answer: Nebraska is one of the few remaining states that still has a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-gender marriage. As long as that stands, Nebraska doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.
This means, couples in a same-sex marriage who have a Nebraska filing obligation CANNOT file that Nebraska tax return as a married couple.
Couples in this situation will need to:
- File their federal tax return as married
- Create two “mock” single person federal tax returns
- Use those mock returns to file two Nebraska tax returns as single people
What About Multiple States?
Plenty of people who live in western Iowa cross the Missouri River and work in Omaha. To a lesser extent, some people in the Omaha area work in Iowa.
If that person is in a same-sex marriage, the steps are the same as outlined above, except the Iowa tax return is filed as married, because Iowa recognizes same-sex marriage.
The Nebraska return is filed as “single” regardless of whether the person lives in Nebraska or they live in Iowa, and regardless of how they file their federal and Iowa tax returns.
For more information, see this page on the Nebraska Department of Revenue website.
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