IRS rule: ‘Husband and wife’ can mean a same-sex couple
The IRS published a new rule Friday that said for tax purposes, it will interpret the term “husband and wife” as any two people who are married to each other, even if they are a same-sex couple.
The IRS rule attempts to clarify marital terms in the wake of two major Supreme Court cases.
One of those cases was Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 case that said same-sex couples have a right to get married under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The other was Windsor v United States, which is the 2013 case that struck down a law that required the federal government to recognize only heterosexual marriages.
In an effort to stay consistent with those rulings, the IRS issued a draft rule late last year proposing that the term “husband and wife” would mean any two people who are married to each other. Over the last several months, the IRS received comments suggesting various changes to ensure that same-sex couples are covered.
For example, one commenter said a specific reference to “same-sex marriage” would help make it more clear. But the IRS said those changes weren’t needed, and “husband and wife” could mean same- or opposite-sex couples.
“Treasury and the IRS believe that the definitions in the proposed regulations apply equally to same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples, and that no clarification is needed,” the agencies wrote.
They also noted that under the rule, “husband and wife” means “two individuals lawfully married to each other,” which they said is gender neutral and treats anyone as husband and wife “without qualification.”
“Amending the regulations to specifically address a marriage of two individuals of the same sex would undermine the goal of these regulations to eliminate distinctions in federal tax law based on gender,” they said.
Another commenter suggested that the IRS simply use the gender-neutral term “spouse” instead of “husband and wife” on all relevant IRS forms. But the IRS said the rule doesn’t deal with IRS forms, and said Treasury and the IRS “will consider the commenters recommendation when updating IRS forms and publications.”
The rule also holes that the terms “spouse,” “husband” and “wife” mean people lawfully married to another person, and also holds that these terms are “neutral” in that they can be used to identify people in a same- or opposite-sex marriage.
