Now that we’re legally married, should we amend our tax returns?

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/03/02/3074548/now-that-were-legally-married.html

Now that we’re legally married, should we amend our tax returns?
By Kiplinger's Personal Finance
March 2, 2014 Updated 21 hours ago

Is it worth the hassle for legally married same-sex couples to amend old tax returns to claim the “married filing jointly” status?

If you were legally married anywhere that sanctioned such unions in 2010, 2011 or 2012, you have the option to amend your federal tax returns from those years to file jointly rather than as two single filers.

You aren’t required to amend the returns, but it’s worthwhile to calculate whether you’d come out ahead as joint filers, especially if there’s a big difference in your incomes. “When there is a disparity in income, especially if you have a nonworking spouse, there will be a benefit,” said Jean Nelsen, an enrolled agent in San Francisco. (Enrolled agents are licensed to represent taxpayers before the IRS.) If both spouses work and have similar incomes, they are likely to be hit with the “marriage penalty,” she says, providing little or no benefit to amending the returns.

And if both spouses have capital losses or rental real estate losses, deductions for those losses can be limited when couples file joint returns.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Interesting topic...

the Feds recognize same sex marriag, some states that have an income tax do not.
So those states are losing out on income taxes, perhaps.