IRS releases new video with guidance for married same-sex couples

As families across the country work to file their federal taxes for the year, legally married same-sex couples are experiencing a new option: to file their taxes together, as a married couple. In light of the June 2013 ruling from the United States Supreme Court striking down the central part of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex couples are now considered married by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury for all federal tax purposes. 

Now, a new video from the IRS offers guidance to married couples on how to file their taxes this year. The White House pushed out the video in a press release, explaining:

The Internal Revenue Service released a new YouTube video designed to provide useful tax tips to married same-sex couples. The new video, less than two minutes long, is available in English, Spanish and American Sign Language and can be accessed via IRS.gov. It joins an array of online products, including answers to frequently-asked questions, designed to help same-sex couples file their federal income tax returns.

Following last summer’s Supreme Court decision invalidating a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, the IRS ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, are now treated as married for federal tax purposes. The ruling applies to all federal tax provisions where marriage is a factor, including filing status, claiming personal and dependency exemptions, taking the standard deduction, employee benefits, contributing to an IRA and claiming the earned income tax credit or child tax credit.

Watch the video, and learn more about how the DOMA ruling affects same-sex couples: