As I have previously discussed, the Supreme Court isdetermining if the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is constitutional. Someemployers offering benefits for employees’ same sex couple might be in forfederal payroll tax refunds if DOMA is unconstitutional. Currently, employers assignincome for the market value of coverage for a non-dependant same sex partner.The assigned income is taxes by the state and federally. However, if theSupreme Court holds that DOMA is unconstitutional, the ruling will reverse thefederal tax treatment of employer offered benefits for non-dependent same-sexspouses. Employers offering the benefits for employees’ non-dependantsame-sex partners should think about filing protective FICA tax refund claims.Despite the hurdles people may face to attain a refund, filing a protectiveclaim is simple and generally has a statute of limitations of threeyears.
See Todd A. Solomon, Brian J. Tiemann, and Ruth Wimer Supreme Court Ruling on DOMA Could Lead to Refunds of Federal Taxes, McDermott Will & Emery, Jun. 11, 2013.
