The Marriage Equality Act was signed into law in New York State on June 24, 2011. It allows marriages for same- and opposite-sex couples. First and foremost congratulations to all the happy newlyweds. Now comes the most unromantic part of celebrating marriage equality, the taxes.
 
While the federal government does not currently recognize same-sex marriage, New York (among other states) does. When filing your federal personal income tax, same sex couples need to file them as single or head of household. Filing as two singe and separate individuals denies many of the tax benefits of marriage to same sex couples. Single tax rates are higher and deductions and exemptions are lower. Head of Household filing status will give you slightly better tax benefits, but the rules governing filing head of household are very restrictive. You must be able to demonstrate that you provide the overwhelming financial support for your partner among other tests. 
 
When you get to the state tax return is when things get a little complicated. New York state REQUIRES same sex married couples who married in 2011 to file their taxes as married. You will use the code M3 on your New York State tax return to indicate same sex married couple filing status. You must prepare a "dummy" copy of your federal income tax return as if you were married, applying all the married rules to your federal income taxes. You then must take your "dummy" federal income tax return information and apply it to your "actual" New York State income tax return. After you are done with this process, as described at the New York State Department of Taxation website, you will submit your New York State personal income tax and enjoy all the benefits of being a married couple under New York State tax regulations. Do not file your "dummy" Federal return as the Federal government will reject same sex married couple tax returns.
 
As you might imagine, all this extra work, in effect completing two different sets of Federal income tax returns, will double the work for you. If you have the 6 hours that an average tax payer spends on doing their own taxes, then now you most likely will double that to spending 12 hours on your taxes this year. If you use a tax preparer, then you can imagine that they will be giving you a very legitimate reason to double your tax preparation fees this year. Astoria Tax Prep will not be doubling any of our client's fees. The Marriage Equality Act should be a joyous event free of increased burdens on taxpayers. Please feel free to contact us regarding our expertise in the area of same sex couple income tax filing.