I dislike filling out tax forms, and am lucky to have a spouse who actually kind of enjoys it. (She was a financial advisor for a while.) This year is tricky for us, however, since we are married in our state and must now fill out federal tax forms as “married” for the first time. In a way, it’s easier than doing the three federal forms we had to fill out in previous years — one for each of us as “single” and a “dummy” married one that we used to complete our state (married) form — but it raises its own set of questions. For same-sex couples married but living in states that don’t recognize their marriages, the questions may be even more complicated. Luckily, there’s help out there.
GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) ran an hour-long webinar on taxes that they’ve made available to rewatch. Sure, it’s long, but make yourselves some popcorn and consider it a good investment. More information and downloadable publications are available on the GLAD website.
And the IRS itself has put out a series of short videos in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language, designed to help same-sex couples. None of these videos can replace getting personal information from a tax advisor, but they might answer a few common questions or point you in the right direction.
This can be such trouble for some couples. There needs to be some kind of easier way for doing taxes. Perhaps the up and coming proposed tax reform offered by the conservatives will make filing taxes a lot easier in the future.