For the first installment of Gay Marriage Monday for 2012, we recap some tax-related news.
- In Iowa, a judge last week sided with a lesbian couple who argued that both of their names should be on their 2-year-old’s birth certificate. Click here for a story from the Des Moines Register. While not purely tax-related, it could have tax implications. If both parents are the legal parents of the child, then the parents can decide between themselves who claims the tax dependency exemption for the child.
- Delaware and Hawaii now allow same-sex civil unions as of 1/1/12. Couples in such unions will be treated as married for state tax purposes in both states. Click here for a summary from Lambda Legal of Delaware’s civil union law.
- Two churches in Hawaii filed a complaint against the state to stop the civil union law, but the lawsuit was dismissed last week.
The following states now allow same-sex marriage or civil unions and allow couples in such unions to file as married on state tax returns:
- California (California allowed same-sex marriage prior to Proposition 8 being enacted. Marriages conducted prior to Prop 8 are still recognized. California now allows same-sex “registered domestic partnerships.” Prop 8 is currently being challenged in the courts.)
- Connecticut (marriage)
- Delaware (civil unions)
- District of Columbia (marriage)
- Hawaii (civil unions)
- Illinois (civil unions)
- Iowa (marriage)
- New York (marriage)
- New Jersey (civil unions)
- Oregon (domestic partnerships)
- Rhode Island (civil unions)
- Vermont (marriage)
Note: Nevada (domestic partnerships); New Hampshire (marriage)* and Washington state (domestic partnerships) also allow same-sex marriage/partnerships but those states don’t have an individual income tax.
*-New Hampshire does assess a tax on interest and dividends; couples in a same-sex marriage are considered married if they are subject to that tax.
