With Marriage Bonuses Comes Marriage Penalties

As I have previously discussed, many same-sex married couples instates allowing same-sex marriage will enjoy lower tax bills following theSupreme Court’s recent DOMA decision. But not all of them.

Marriage can save money on taxes, but it can also mean highertax bills.  Low-income and high-incomecouples may be subject to significant marriage penalties, especially if thespouses make similar incomes. 

The good news for same-sex married couples is that they likelywon’t have to amend their recent tax returns and pay additional income tax ifthey would have been subject to marriage penalties had the couple previouslyfiled together.  However, they will beable to amend their tax returns to collect marriage bonuses they would havebeen owed for the last three tax years if they had filed together.

See Robertson Williams, DOMA’s Demise Means Higher Taxes for SomeSame-Sex Couples, Forbes, June 26, 2013.