Tax developments for Washington same-sex couples
on March 7th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Long-time Pride Foundation supporter, Nancy Nickelson, asks a taxation question of Judi O’Kelley from Lambda Legal.
One rarely exclaims, “Yippee!” when offered a free seminar about tax code. However, with recent IRS developments impacting same-sex couples in Washington State, last week’s session co-hosted with Lambda Legal, swelled to welcome nearly 400 guests. Attendees came with pencils in hand, a strong desire to understand the IRS changes and prepared with questions about applying the new rules of community property to their own tax filings.
Click here to listen to the file and feel free to share this link with friends. The session was approximately 2 hours long, so please get comfortable, and know that you can pause and replay the audio file. With help from our friends at Town Hall Seattle, we were able to record the entire session, including the lively Q&A discussion with the audience.
Listen to the recording: “Washington State Tax Developments for Same-Sex Couples” from Pride Foundation on Vimeo.
The speaker panel welcomed three experts, listed below with contact information:
Laura Hoexter, Esq., Estate Planning Attorney – Helsell Fetterman, LLP
Cynthia F. Buhr, Esq., Family Law Attorney – Law Offices of Cynthia F. Buhr, PLLC
Judi O’Kelley, Esq., Director of Life Planning – Lambda Legal
Further, Lambda Legal has a comprehensive FAQ sheet about community property and IRS application changes for same-sex couples in Washington, California and Nevada. Click here to download the document or register for a March 16 teleconference.
Many people inquired about contacting a Certified Public Accountant for further assistance. Below is a list of individual CPAs and accounting firms that are members of the Greater Seattle Business Association – a LGBT and allied business and professional chamber of commerce serving the Puget Sound region. When gaining professional counsel of any kind, we strongly encourage people to interview multiple providers and find the expert who has the area of knowledge, location and style that works best for your needs.
Thank you again to Lambda Legal for a great collaboration!
Ako, Roen D.I. CPA (Accountants, Certified Public)
Newman Dierst Hales, PLLC
Phone: (206) 284-1383
E-mail: rako@ndhaccountants.com
Dave Bembridge CPA PS (Accountants, Certified Public)
Phone: (206) 323-7103
E-mail: dave@davecpa.com
Geoffrey Shelton, CPA (Accountants, Certified Public)
Phone: (206) 783-5225
GSBA’s 1992 Businessman of the Year
E-mail: geoffcpa@att.net
Harley F Broe, CPA (Accountants, Certified Public)
Phone: (206) 322-7298
1992 GSBA Business Woman of the Year Award
E-mail: taxproseattle@gmail.com
O’Leary, Rick, CPA, MBA (Accountants, Certified Public)
Rick O’Leary and Company
Phone: (206) 282-1923a
E-mail: RickOleary@msn.com
RainCity CPA (Accountants, Certified Public)
Heitzman, Jordan B.
Phone: (206) 402-5266
E-mail: jordan@raincitycpa.com
Seabold Group (Accountants, Certified Public)
Norberg, Martha CPA
Phone: (206) 522-1152 x304
E-mail: mnorberg@seaboldgroup.com
Ter Claeys, EA, CPA (Accountants, Certified Public)
Phone: (206) 322-9472
E-mail: ter@terclaeyscpa.com
Watson & McDonell, PLLC (Accountants, Certified Public)
McDonell, Lillian, CPA, Audit Partner
Phone: (206) 624-2380 x104
E-mail: lillian@watsoncpas.com
How about a brief summary? I’m not going to listen to a 2-hour long session without knowing something about it in advance . . .
Thanks,
Ann Shoemaker
Hi Ann, click on the FAQ sheet provided by Lambda Legal for a brief summary. It is a lengthy recording. The introductions last about 10 mins, the speaker presentations last about one hour and the rest is Q&A with the audience. It is A LOT of information to take in so you may want to listen to the recording in a few sittings. Thanks for writing!
I still can’t tell if my Social Security or my pension are considered community property. Where can we get the latest? I saw that Turbo Tax hasn’t been able to update their software to help.
Hi Susan – Jody Waits, our Director of Community Giving, will be in contact with you shortly.
Thank you to all the sponsors of this event. It does feel like two steps forward and three steps back. After the presentation my understanding is my employment income earned prior to the Domestic Partnership Registration lead to a retirement pension which was received a month after registration and would not be community property. Then my partners employment income would be community property which we would need to income split. Right?(one retired one still working).
Another question is around medical coverage for a domestic partner . It sounds like this can be a deduction, since the taxation is added to the paycheck as income is the deduction also taken by both/split similar to mortgage interest?
The Link for the Lambda Legal summary does not work as I too would be interested in a summary.
Thanks so much
Hi there all! Here is an updated link – our friends at Lambda Legal update the pdf document regularly – so do continue to check in. We’ll be posting the audio file to the 2012 session about IRS regulations later today. Thanks again!
http://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/fs_the-irs-applies-income-splitting-community-property
My questions are similar to Brenda’s. One of us works and one of us doesn’t. Can we continue to do our income taxes separately? Is retirement community property? Though it’s wonderful to get married, finally, nobody seems to have the answers!
Hello Catherine,
There are clearly more questions than answers at this early stage. I would recommend reaching out to Legal Voice and Lambda Legal for more information.