DEAR GAY COUPLES: Here Are The 22 Big Ways Your Life Is About To Change

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/big-changes-for-gay-couples-after-doma-2013-6



***SNIP

Here are some of the specific changes that are coming for some gay marrieds. Some are important and some are merely interesting. They're mostly positive, but not all of them are:

Income taxes. Gay married couples will start filing joint federal income tax returns. In general, this will mean higher taxes for couples where both partners have similar incomes and lower taxes for those where one spouse earns much more than the other.

Employer-provided health insurance. This is a tax free benefit when given to employees, their spouses, and their children. Under DOMA, same-sex couples had to pay income tax on spousal health benefits. Now, they won't.

Estate taxes. You don't have to pay them when you inherit from your spouse. That's what Edith Windsor, the plaintiff in the DOMA case, was suing over: She had to pay an estate tax bill over $360,000 on an inheritance from her late wife because the federal government didn't recognize her marriage.

Social Security retirement benefits. Social Security old-age benefits can be based, in part, on a current or former spouse's income. Some retirees who are or have been gay married will now be eligible for higher benefits.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/big-changes-for-gay-couples-after-doma-2013-6#ixzz2XPpQsPBn