The mortgage interest deduction rules limit deductible interest to the amount of interest paid on $1.1 million of qualified mortgage debt ($1.0 million of acquisition debt plus $100,000 of home equity debt). The statute is not clearly drafted about how to apply this limit and so the issue has arisen whether a same-sex couple, unmarried in the eyes of federal tax law, should be restricted to the same limit on their mortgage deduction as a married couple is. The Tax Court has just answered this question in the affirmative. Read More ...

Since opposite-sex RDPs are not affected by DOMA, is it possible for them to be considered married at the federal tax level? In other words, should they be filing as married (either jointly or separately)? Read More ...

Today Federal District Judge Jeffrey S. White (Northern District, California) ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional as applied to Karen Golinski, a staff attorney at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This is a great opinion, explaining cogently why classifications on the basis of sexual orientation are entitled to heightened scrutiny. For anyone looking for substantial authority to support filing your federal taxes as married, this opinion is a strong plus. Read More ...

The Ninth Circuit handed down its decision in the Perry case on February 7, 2012, finding that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. Today, the proponents of Proposition 8 filed for rehearing en banc. Read More ...

Tomorrow, February 7, 2012, is the day. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has just announced that it will release its opinion by 10:00 AM California time. Read More ...

Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, has started a blog. Read More ...

I will be participating in two national tax advice call-ins. Both will be at 3PM ET, with the first one on Wednesday, January 25 and the second one on Wednesday, February 8. Read More ...

Happy New Year. It is a new year and we have new tax laws. That's the way it works these days. Of the new laws the one of most interest to the same sex tax community is the expiration of the refundable credit for adoption expenses. Read More ...

In 2003, the United States Supreme Court reversed the 1986 opinion in Bowers v Hardwick, holding that the right of sexual intimacy was protected by the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiff in that case was John Geddes Lawrence. His willingness to fight for the right to love makes him a gay hero. I learned tonight of his death and thought this worth sharing with the wider commuity. Read More ...

Rep. Jim McDermott just introduced a new Estate Tax Bill that would return the estate tax exemption to $1.0 million and restore the pre-20001 progressive rate structure with a top rate of 55%. This bill makes sense as a fair revenue raiser except for its failure to acknowledge that same-sex couples will be over taxed unless they are allowed access to the marital deduction that opposite sex married couples are given. Read More ...