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H&R Block issues coupons to some couples
By [email protected] on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 1:56pm
You don't see that everyday! Tax filers who are in civil unions (or domestic or same-sex partnerships) were prevented from using TaxCut software, and had to go in person to an H&R Block office to get taxes filed. The ACLU complained, and the big green tax folks listened.
You can read the official response from H&R Block, or see the ACLU's good doobie press release. You could also read the AP story about it (resyndicated on boston.com), but you're going to have to find it yourself since I wouldn't want to run afoul of their legal team by linking to it...
Anyone single-sex married couples from MA have issues filing their taxes this past year? Anyone wonder when tax software will automatically account for differences in state vs. federal handling thereof?
(corrected title; added trailing question -sc)
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Comments
this story is New Hampshire
story pertains to NH and other Civil Union states. In MA, it's called marriage, so it's not an issue.
(from the associated press:)
"The American Civil Liberties Union had raised the issue on behalf of a Connecticut couple."
"Vermont, California, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Washington and Oregon have laws allowing either civil unions or domestic partnerships. Hawaii extends some rights to same-sex couples and cohabitating heterosexual couples.
And if you don't like homosexuals, don't marry one
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/...
What it's called doesn't matter
Um (yes, I started my comment with "um"), have you ever filed taxes as someone who has a different legal status for your family relationship on a state level than on a federal level? Because if you have, you'd know that regardless of which state or county or city you're in that grants you some sort of recognition, the federal government regards you as legally single. I did use an online tax program, but I had to do the federal forms, then go in and delete everything and change our status to joint and do the state forms. This would be the same anywhere where couples are allowed to file joint state taxes but not joint federal taxes.
Turbo Tax
Turbo Tax's online version works well for MA married couples who are gay. The only trouble is, you have to fill out some of their forms twice, if memory serves, because couples can file as "married" in MA, but then have to file as "single" in the US, so your financial data can't just be copied from one to the other.
That's not Turbo Tax's fault, of course.
No extra charges or anything.
incorrect name
I swear I'm not trying to be picky, but the use of the term 'domestic partners' in this article is misleading. Civil unions are very different than domestic partnerships. For the most part, civil unions confer all of the rights of marriage (save for the right to call the relationship a marriage), while domestic partnerships only grant a smaller amount of rights. There are more reasons that I could go into if you like, but the bottom line is that it's incorrect to use the two terms interchangeably.
if you're going to be picky, be right
Neither civil unions nor DPs carry the federal benefits of marriage pertaining to immigration, social security, pensions, being able to move from state to state w/o losing protection for your family, etc.
Domestic partnership in California (and perhaps other states) is legally identical to marriage except for federal benefits, which makes DPs exactly the same as civil unions in VT.
Some DPs may be better than some civil unions, or vice versa, but neither will ever be equal to marriage on the federal level.
This is the reason we need MARRIAGE EQUALITY guaranteed by law nationwide rather than a patchwork of different benefits based on which states are least inclined to discriminate.