After Supreme Court ruling, Uncle Sam may owe SODOMITE couples bigger refunds

[Psalm 51:17]

As I said on this forum earlier, I'm an Accountant(although unemployed at the moment) - the USSC NOT giving a ruling to legalize SSM across the country would open up a whole new can of worms, why? B/c with the ruling they gave, while SSM couples can file federal returns, it's going to create a lot of confusion if, let's say, these same couples from NY move to either TX or OK(where SSM is illegal), they won't be able to file jointly on their state returns, which is going to create a lot of confusion.

And now we have this - if anything, as we all know, the Illuminati minions are working to collapse the global economy. Looks like this could be one of their ways...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/same-sex-couples-celebrate-then-144513937.html
6/25/13
Same-Sex Couples: Celebrate, Then Call a CPA

After Supreme Court ruling, Uncle Sam may owe couples bigger refunds

After celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision, same-sex couples may want to phone their accountants.

In addition to having implications for Social Security benefits, child care rights and retirement planning, the high court’s ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional might mean a check from Uncle Sam. Couples may be able to amend prior years’ tax returns to receive bigger refunds now that their marriages are recognized by the federal government. Income tax filing has been frustrating for many couples, some of whom had to file as many as four separate returns because of the conflicting state and federal rules. And since they were unable to file joint returns, same-sex couples lost out on some of the deductions and credits allowed for heterosexual couples, such as breaks offered to those selling a home and child-related tax credits.

To be sure, the decision leaves some question marks. The court cases did not address how the government should treat civil unions between same-sex couples, says Alison Flores, an attorney and analyst with the Tax Institute at H&R Block. Also, the ruling does not mean states that currently prohibit same-sex marriage now have to permit it.

But experts say couples may want to meet with their accountant to run through some of the case’s financial implications. Here is a look at some key topics to consider.

Gift taxes and estate planning. This issue, which was at the heart of one of the cases, should now be greatly simplified for many same-sex couples. Without federal recognition, many couples were not able to pass assets to their spouses after death, as straight couples could. Instead, spouses inheriting more than $5.1 million in 2012 (raised to $5.25 million this year) were subject to the estate tax. One of those spouses was Edith Windsor, a widow who challenged the aspect of the Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman after she was hit with a $363,000 federal estate tax bill when her wife died in 2009. (The aspect of the law that says states don’t need to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, did not come before the court.)

Some couples that set up trusts to avoid double taxation on assets being passed along to their partners may find that a trust isn’t necessary now that assets can be passed directly to their spouse tax-free. Others may want to update their trusts to give their spouses tax-free access to the trust’s income or principal, an option that has only been available to straight couples, says Scott Squillace, an estate planning lawyer based in Boston who focuses on gay couples.

The ruling could also make it possible for married same-sex couples to share assets without being subject to gift taxes. This would sometimes be an issue for couples that owned a house together, but didn’t equally split mortgage payments and other expenses, says Squillace. While rarely enforced until one spouse died or was audited, those expenses covered by one spouse could technically be subject to gift taxes if they exceeded $14,000 annually, says Squillace. But now that those marriages are recognized by the federal government, some same-sex couples may feel more comfortable adding their spouses name to the property title, knowing that they’ll have more flexibility on how they choose to split those expenses.

Income taxes. Not being able to file jointly has also meant that many same-sex couples faced larger tax bills than straight couples, says Kenneth Weissenberg, a partner at accounting firm EisnerAmper, who estimates he and his husband Brian Sheerin paid an additional $5,000 in taxes last year because they couldn’t file as a married couple. Many married couples owe less in taxes when they file their returns jointly than they would as individuals, especially when one spouse earns more than the other, says Weissenberg. Married couples filing jointly can take advantage of certain credits and deductions that can lower their overall tax bill, since they can share capital gains and losses, receive a larger exclusion if they sell a home (of up to $500,000 for married couples, compared with $250,000 for an individual), and receive child-related tax credits, among other tax breaks.

Many gay couples have had to prepare a joint federal return—which they couldn’t file—in order to have all the information needed to be able to file jointly at the state level. They can now turn to those dummy returns, or prepare a sample return now, to know if they would have saved on taxes by being able to file jointly, says Flores of H&R Block. Then they may be able to collect refunds on any taxes they overpaid in previous years by filing amended returns as a married couple.

That relief may be limited, however. Couples who married in one state that allows gay marriage but move to a state that doesn’t could find themselves in a situation where their union is recognized by the federal government but not by the state they reside in. Under that scenario, they may be able to file married jointly for their federal tax returns but need to file separate state tax returns. Generally, the IRS allows taxpayers to amend returns for up to three years after the filing deadline or up to two years after the taxes are paid. The timeline may be different at the state level, and some couples may have more time if they filed protective claims for previous tax years that would give them an extension for amending returns.

But not all couples should rush to file amended returns. Some couples, especially high-earning couples where both spouses are working, could get hit by the so-called marriage penalty. In some cases, spouses are better off filing separately if it increases their chances of qualifying for certain income-based deductions like the medical tax deductions.

Health benefits. For some same-sex couples, the biggest tax hit came from an area most married couples don’t yet associate with tax season: their health benefits. While more employers are allowing same-sex spouses to be added to their employees’ health plans, it was provided as a taxable benefit—costing those couples an additional $1,069 a year in taxes, according to a 2007 report by the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank. But now that taxes should no longer be a factor, some couples may want to re-evaluate their health insurance choices. One spouse may now be able to move onto the other’s more generous plan, which may also be more affordable.

And even if they aren’t changing plans, some couples may be able to file an amended return to collect the taxes they may have paid on those benefits in previous years.

Of course, some couples may be better off financially by continuing to get coverage through their separate employers. As MarketWatch previously reported, more companies are denying health coverage to spouses who can get coverage through their own jobs. And if they do allow spouses, many are making that coverage more expensive by introducing higher surcharges, lowering reimbursement rates, or making the worker pay the full cost of the premium.

[Psalm 51:17]

Again, the love of money - both attorneys and accountants stand to profit from this.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/supreme-court-simplifies-gay-divorce-2013-06-26?siteid=yhoof2
6/26/13
Supreme Court simplifies gay divorce

But splitting up may still be costlier for same-sex married couples

The Supreme Court may have struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, but experts say the dissolution of same-sex marriages may still be costlier and more complicated than it is for opposite-sex couples.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex spouses in states where gay marriage is legal. The decision also has implications for divorces, experts say. Same-sex couples that want to seek a divorce face a less complicated legal process, says Randall Kessler, a family law attorney based in Atlanta.

While the successful challenge to DOMA involved the case of a widow — New York resident Edith Windsor, who was forced to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes on her wife’s estate — experts say it will also benefit divorced couples. Same-sex married couples will no longer have to pay state gift and/or inheritance tax if they divorce and divide their assets. Splitting assets between divorcing same-sex spouses in Pennsylvania, for instance, often meant paying 15% inheritance tax, says Stephen M. Asbel, an attorney based in Media, Pa. What’s more, a wealthier spouse will now be able to deduct alimony payments from his or her federal income taxes, says Daniel Swick, a partner at the corporate department of law firm Herrick Feinstein, in New Jersey.

That said, divorce will still be a lengthier and, in some cases, costlier process for many same-sex couples. Because the Supreme Court did not rule more broadly — making same-sex marriage available nationwide — married couples who do not live in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage will still have to seek a divorce in a state that does recognize it. “As most states have a residency requirement for divorce, at least one of the spouses would need to establish residency in that state for the requisite period,” says Brian Moulton, legal director for Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C. In California, that period is six months. There are exceptions: Washington, D.C., allows for divorce without residency for couples whose marriage is not recognized in their state of residency.

Child custody issues also remain a legal and financial minefield for same-sex couples who have not jointly adopted their child, experts say. A non-biological parent who has acted as a parent to a child by providing emotional and financial support may or may not be deemed “in loco parentis” — in the place of a parent — by a divorce lawyer. If the non-biological parent has not adopted the child, he or she may have to apply for custody if one parent is deemed unfit, and may not qualify for automatic visitation rights, says Kessler, the Atlanta-based lawyer. “The average divorce can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000,” he says, “but a protracted child-custody battle can triple those costs.”

Although there is little long-term data on the subject, the rate of same-sex divorce currently appears to be roughly half that of heterosexual couples. The annual rates of dissolutions ranged from 0% to 1.8% — an average of 1.1% — across the states that allowed gay marriage, according to a 2011 study by the Williams Institute, a think-tank at the University of California, Los Angeles’s law school. This is slightly lower than the 2% average annual rate of divorce among opposite-sex couples. With DOMA overturned, however, Kessler says both marriage and divorce for same-sex couples just got a little easier. “Same-sex couples seeking divorce will no longer have to avoid court because they are afraid of the unknown,” he says.

[Kilika]

both attorneys and accountants stand to profit from this

Oh, you know it! They've been chomping at the bit on this one.