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July 19, 2013 at 01:53 PM
Life insurance and financial service professionals say the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26 striking down provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a major achievement for the gay and lesbian communities, which have long sought to secure federal recognition of state-registered same-sex marriages. But industry experts also qualify the victory, noting the decision may actually complicate planning for some couples or be of limited value to others depending on place of residence or status.
Emphasizing the positive
“The repeal of DOMA [in U.S. vs. Windsor] was a great win for gay and lesbian couples, as the ruling finally recognizes same-sex marriages at the federal level, not just at the state level,” says Debra Abbott-Walker, a Fairfield, Conn.-based agency recruiter and registered rep at Pruco Securities, a unit of Prudential Financial, Newark, N.J. “It will make some planning aspects easier because couples will now enjoy federal benefits that previously were unavailable. For advisors, this is huge.”
These benefits, says experts, flow from the more than one 1,000 federal laws and programs governing married couples. Gays and lesbians living in states that recognize same-sex marriages will now, for example, be covered by federal marriage provisions respecting Social Security, veterans/military benefits and immigration benefits, such as the ability for a foreigner to apply for legal residency when married to a U.S. citizen.
Those working for the federal government will now also enjoy employment benefits for married couples. Among them: federal health insurance for spouses; plus wages, worker’s comp, health insurance and retirement plan benefits for the surviving spouse of a deceased federal worker.
Also widely touted are estate planning and estate tax benefits. Married same-sex couples can, for example, create a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust that allows surviving spouses to use trust property tax-free. Also available is qualified domestic trust (QDOT) trust which permits non-U.S. citizen surviving spouses to postpone paying estate taxes.
Also of keen interest, observers say, is the federal unlimited marital deduction, which enables same-sex couples to transfer estate assets to beneficiaries free of gift and estate tax. This IRS provision alone can save costly and time-consuming implementation of tax-avoidance techniques.
However, advisors note the deduction should prove unnecessary following the American Taxpayer’s Relief Act of 2012. Signed by President Obama on January 2, the law sets the estate tax exemption level at $5 million per individual and $10 million per couple. These exclusion amounts, sources say, are sufficiently high as to render estate tax a moot issue for the overwhelming majority of same-sex couples.
The more significant tax impact of the DOMA decision, observers agree, concerns income taxes. Gay and lesbian couples residing in states where their marriages are recognized can now file a joint federal income tax return, an option that can yield substantial income tax savings.
“One of the big benefits of filing jointly under our progressive income tax code is the ability for couples to avoid higher tax brackets by splitting their income,” says Nick Kasprak, an analyst at the Tax Foundation, Washington, D.C.
Kasprak cautions, however, that high-earning newlyweds may be subject to a marriage penalty (i.e., paying more tax on a jointly filed federal return than they would as single filers with the same income). Under current tax rates, for example, two individuals filing as “single,” each earning $87,850, would each pay a marginal tax rate of 25%. But as married couple filing jointly, their combined income ($175,700) would subject them to a higher, 28 percent marginal tax rate, costing an additional $879 in tax.
Another tax benefit for married same-sex couples, adds Kasprak, is reduced paperwork. Before DOMA was struck down, same-sex couples in states where marriage was legal could file jointly a state income tax return, but had to file singly on the federal return. When deducting state income tax from the federal tax and vice versa, couples often resorted to drafting a fake federal return as if they were married, then used the fake return to determine state deductions. Likewise, they would develop a dummy single state return to determine their federal tax deduction.
“This procedure can be very complicated and, frankly, stupid,” says Kasprak. “Now the process will be much easier. Couples can file either single or joint returns at both the federal and state level.”
Kasprak adds that married couples in recognition states should also be able to file amended returns for the 7 years preceding the DOMA decision to secure additional tax savings. But he questions whether the IRS would require amended returns, noting this would be an “administrative nightmare.”
Product benefits
The benefits for same sex couples in recognition states aren’t limited to the federal tax code. In the workplace, gays and lesbians can now add a spouse to a family health plan. A significant other can also be designated an automatic, joint and 50 percent survivor income beneficiary of an individual’s defined benefit retirement plan. Previously, the only option may have been to select a single-life annuity payout with no death benefit, the undistributed balance reverting back to the plan.
As regards life insurance, Herbert Daroff, a principal of Baystate Financial Partners, Boston, says that most carriers already avail gay and lesbian couples of second-to-die policies that pay a death benefit to surviving heirs only after the death of the second spouse — the benefit being lower premiums compared to policies that pay out after the first death — but some providers pre-DOMA didn’t offer the products in non-recognition states because of questions as to the policyholder’s insurable interest. Will they now?
The resolution of this issue, says Daroff, has implications not only for gays and lesbians applying for second-to-die policies, but also those looking to buy separate policies on each other.
“Whether limitations will still apply in certain states, we don’t yet know,” says Daroff. “But the case for demonstrating insurable interest is stronger now than it was before the SCOTUS decision. Insurers in non-recognition states will now have a tougher hurdle to mount when arguing that a policyholder has no insurable interest in his or her spouse.”
A related dividend of the SCOTUS decision, says Daroff, is asset protection. In states that recognize same-sex marriage or marriage-equivalent relationships, gay and lesbian couples can hold their home and other joint property as “tenants by the entirety.” When one spouse/partner dies, the other inherits the property, thereby insuring protection from most creditors (excepting mortgage holders and tax collectors). Post-DOMA, this asset protection will now be recognized under federal law.
Covering the caveats
The SCOTUS decision will be of immediate benefit to gay and lesbian couples residing in the 13 states (plus the District of Columbia) that recognize same-sex marriage. But eligibility for federal marriage benefits, experts caution, is uncertain in cases where couples marry in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but reside in or move to a non-recognition state. The IRS and Social Security Administration, for example, make determinations based on where couples reside (the state of domicile) and not where they marry (the state of celebration).
