Originally published on Forbes.com Apr 9th, 2013
It has practically become an annual tradition for me to remind same sex married couples to consider filing amended returns for open years. This may be the final year. The Supreme Court will be ruling on DOMA soon, probably in June. If you and your spouse filed your 2009 returns as single or head of household and would have saved tax with a joint return, you need to act very quickly in order to preserve your right to a refund. Fortunately, GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) has provided some material to make the process a little easier. Pay particular attention to the link to “Tax Time and Preserving Your Federal Rights“.
If you had been paying attention, you would have already taken care of this and, frankly, if you use a preparer they might be a little annoyed at you asking them to amend a 2009 return while they are in the middle of trying to get a bunch of 2012 returns done. So it goes. If the joint return would save you money, the IRS needs to have received your claim before the statute of limitation expires. Note that I said received. There is something called the “timely mailed, timely filed” rule that accounts for procrastinators lining up at the post office on the night of April 15th. The thing is the “timely mailed, timely filed” rule only applies to returns that are required to be filed. A refund claim is not required.
What About Your 2012 Return ?
The upcoming DOMA decision makes this year peculiar. A couple will frequently get a better result if they both file as single rather than a joint return. Married filing separately is usually a bad deal. I would argue that couples that are better off single should not extend this year or if they do should file before June. Couples that would be better off filing jointly should probably extend, since there is a very good chance that they will be able to file jointly in July with DOMA definitively declared unconstitutional.
How Do You Tell Whether There Is An Advantage ?
Merely considering the rate tables, there can be a marriage penalty for high income people if they both have substantial income. If income is disparate, there is likely to be a marriage advantage. That is just considering the rates, though. There are a host of other possible difference. For example if Robin had capital gains and Terry has capital losses, there might be very substantial savings from a joint return. On the other hand, if Robin has a lot of medical expenses and Terry has none, the difference in threshold for deductibility might be very significant. One of my earliest posts gets into some of the more arcane advantages of not being married. The bottom line is that unless your situation is extremely simple, the only way to tell whether there is an advantage or a disadvantage to joint filings is to run all three returns (i.e. two single and one joint) and compare.
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