IRS Decides on married tax laws. Civil Unions/Domestic partnerships not equal. [View all]

[Amimnoch]

Well, I was just checking online for any update on this (Living as an expat resident in Canada, and married for 7 years now I needed to know how I could file my quarterly US income declaration, and how much I needed to pay to avoid the end of year penalty).

Surprising that I only found this info on a Forbes site, and none of my regular sites:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2013/08/29/irs-rules-all-legal-same-sex-marriages-will-be-recognized-for-federal-tax-purposes/

After weeks of speculation about how the Internal Revenue Service will treat same-sex marriages, we have our answer: the IRS has announced that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax purposes. And that’s what we expected.

But here’s what we didn’t: the ruling applies regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage or a jurisdiction that does not recognize same-sex marriage.

Great news for most of us (myself included).. BUT:

the ruling does not apply to registered domestic partnerships, civil unions, or similar formal relationships recognized under state law.

So, for all of us that were sold the bullshit line that the "separate but equal" title of civil unions, and domestic partnerships were really "equal", but just under a different name... well, it's officially bullshit.

Still, even with this exception clause, it's a great step forward.

Anyway, if anyone else was waiting, and biting their nails for this info, it looks like it's been decided. Heading to the IRS website to see if i can find some confirmation after this post is done.