Federal Tax Implications of Windsor

Major Issues Confront Same-Sex Married Couples

Scott Ahroni, JD, LLM, and Benjamin Rue Silliman, MTax, MAcc, EdD, CPA

On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), finding that it violated the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as applied to same-sex couples who were legally married in states that permitted such marriages [United States v. Windsor, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013)]. The ruling is significant for same-sex married couples, who were denied federal tax benefits previously only available to couples in opposite-sex marriages, per Revenue Ruling 2013-17. (The Windsor ruling does not apply to registered domestic partnerships, civil unions, or similar formal relationships recognized under state law.)