Kristina Peterson details how same-sex spouses in the U.S. sometimes face a tremendous tax disadvantage compared to heterosexual spouses. For example, many transactions between same-sex couples trigger gift taxes and such transactions may exhaust much of their lifetime gift tax exclusions amount as well as the full estate tax exclusion amount upon the death of the first spouse. The article also notes how Democrats in Congress are attempting to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which could potentially remove much of the disparate federal tax treatment between same-sex and heterosexual spouses.
See Kristina Peterson, "Blocking Tax Breaks for Same-Sex Married Couples," blogs.wsj.com (Nov. 9, 2011).
Posted by Andrew Hodes, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
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