4 Things Same-Sex Married Couples Should Know if It's Their First Tax Season Together

The U.S. Supreme Court made history on June 26, 2015, when it ruled in favor of marriage equality for all 50 states, overturning previous same-sex bans in 13 states. Now millions of Americans living in the remaining 13 states that prohibited same-sex marriage, have been able to marry and file their taxes as a married couple. This will simplify the tax preparation process and enable them to take advantage of tax benefits previously reserved for married couples.

Now that same-sex couples can file as married couples, they are able to avoid the burden of having to prepare multiple (as many as 5) tax returns, eliminating the extra time and expense from their tax preparation process. With many couples' first tax season underway, we've put together some tips and tricks for filing taxes as a newly married couple.

1. Deductions and credits only available to married couples are now up for grabs. Now you now have access to more tax deductions and credits than before. If your filing status is married filing jointly, you now may be able to take larger tax deductions and credits for your children and other dependents together as a married couple. Some examples of these deductions and credits include:

● Dependency Exemption - The dependency deduction may mean an additional tax deduction of $4,000 per dependent and an additional $4,000 exemption for your spouse.
● Earned Income Tax Credit - When you file as a married couple you may be eligible for an Earned Income Tax Credit worth up to $6,242.
● Education Credits and Deductions - Education is expensive, you may be able to claim a tax credit on your taxes of up to $2,500 for your dependent or spouse's education.

2. Your tax rate is lower as a married couple. You may be able to take advantage of what is known as the "marriage bonus" since tax rates are typically lower for couples married filing jointly. A married same-sex couple who earns $80,000 per year may see savings of at least $500 when filing jointly without considering additional deductions they will be entitled to. You may have heard of the "marriage penalty," which occurs when both spouses earn a higher income that, when combined, bumps them into a higher tax bracket then they both would have been in if filing separately. The IRS continues to increase deductions every year, so the majority of taxpayers will see a net benefit when filing jointly. High income married couples will start seeing a reduction in their itemized deductions called Pease Limitations once they reach a combined income of $309,900, however some six figure couples may likely see some tax benefits.

3. You can save a bundle on tax preparation costs. Some same-sex couples may have previously had to pay high fees to have someone prepare their taxes if they lived in the once non-conforming states due to the complexity of filing multiple federal and state returns. Now, couples can easily and accurately prepare their taxes together. With TurboTax, marriage is marriage and same-sex couples check off the same box simply because that is what they are -- a married couple. They are now able to file one federal and one state return as a married couple filing jointly.

4. You can save on taxes from inherited property and gifts. A surviving spouse in a same-sex marriage can take advantage of the estate tax marital deduction, which allows an unlimited deduction from the gross estate of property passing to the surviving spouse. Legally recognized same-sex couples can now gift money and also take advantage of a doubled annual gift tax exclusion of $28,000.

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