IRS Produces YouTube Video for Same-Sex Couples

The Internal Revenue Service has created a new video for YouTube that aims to provide useful tax tips for married same-sex couples.

The video is the latest addition to the IRS’s YouTube channel containing short instructional videos covering more than 100 topics, ranging from tips for victims of identity theft to taking advantage of the new simplified home office deduction. The videos have been viewed more than 5 million times.

The new video, less than two minutes long, is available in English, Spanish and American Sign Language and can also be accessed via IRS.gov. It joins other online information from the IRS in response to last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Windsor, 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, which invalidated 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.

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