TurboTax Is The #1-Rated, Best-Selling Anti-Gay Tax Software

Are you a gay couple in a civil union?  Or gay marriage? Or similar supposedly separate-but equal statuses?

Have you done your taxes yet?  Well, let me tell you, with TurboTax -- you are separate and unequal.

What you ask?  How can this be?

From the TurboTax website (http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/tax-content/tax-tips/5197.html): 

Start with Your Federal Return

When you begin your single federal return, TurboTax will ask if you were married during the tax year. Select Registered Domestic Partnership to indicate an RDP, civil union, or same-sex marriage.

Now complete and file your single federal return for the IRS. (If you start a state return, TurboTax will tell you that it’s not the right time to do that, and that you should instead file your federal return.)

Next, your partner will complete and file his or her single federal return.

After finishing your two separate federal returns, prepare your married federal return for the state.

Preparing an RDP Return using TurboTax Desktop Version

If you are using the desktop version of TurboTax:

• Open your TurboTax federal return (the one you already completed and filed with the IRS).
• From the File menu, select Save As.
• In the Save Tax Return window, enter a different file name, and then select Save.
• Go to the Personal Info section and confirm that you are in a RDP, civil union, or same-sex marriage. Also indicate if you are filing as either married filing jointly or married filing separately.
• Enter your partner’s personal information when TurboTax asks about your spouse.
• If filing as married filing jointly, include your partner’s tax information as you prepare and complete this return.
• Once this return is done, continue on to your state return. You will see confirmation that this is your married state return.
• Prepare your married state return and include your partner’s tax information (if filing as married filing jointly).
• Finish this return and file it with your state (by mail or e-file).

What does this mean?  You have to do your taxes three times if you are a gay or lesbian couple.  You call that separate but equal?

Its not!

Programs like turbo tax that force gay couples to do extra work should not be able to be sold in states where gay and lesbian couples can be married or civil-unioned.

You can't tell me that a programmer couldn't create an import function and instruct the TurboTax to re-calculate that "third" return for gay couples!

{mosimage}I called TurboTax to inquire and complain about this gay relationship penalty in their program.  (You see both my husband and myself have our own businesses.  We had to re-enter all the data for one of us when we created that "third" federal tax form that gets tossed away for gay couples who are married or civil-unioned.  After waiting on the phone for 42 minutes I spoke with a TurboTax customer service rep about this issue for gay couples.  He was very helpful and apologized.  He told me "this is the way the federal government has told us to do it."

Sorry -- that's bogus -- if they can put a person on the moon, they can eliminate this separate but unequal function from TurboTax.

We'd love to hear thoughts from other gay couples on this issue.  Do tax preparation professionals have to make up a third return and re-enter one of the gay couple's income and deduction data again?  Do they charge gay couples extra?  Should TurboTax be removed from the shelves from states where gay and lesbian couples can marry, enter into a civil union or domestic partnerships?

Civil Unions and Powers of Attorney

{mosimage}Scenario 1:  Last week I met with a financial planner to talk about consolidating retirement accounts from previous employers.  During our routine interview, he asked me if Brian and I had a will, powers of attorney, health care powers of attorney and living wills.   I said to him that we did but I believed most of these documents were unnecessary for us as a gay couple because we were civil unioned in 2000.  His response was that he wasn’t sure and we should really talk to an attorney and he referred me to one that specializes in legal issues for gay couples.  Now the financial planner I spoke with was in New Hampshire (where Civil Unions for gay couple just started on January 1, 2008) so he may not be familiar with the specific protections afforded to gay couples via civil unions (which I though were separate but equal).

Scenario 2:  I called the companies that manage my retirement funds to get documents to request a roll over of monies.  As they were asking me about the forms, they said that if I was married I needed to have my wife complete a document stating she was waiving her right to 50% of my finds if I rolled them over to another company’s retirement fund.  I said, “I’m civil unioned, do I need to do that?”  The advisor’s response, “I don’t know, you should talk to an attorney.”

Does it seem like no one knows what is going on here?

I, of course, talked to Brian about the issue and I even Googled “Do civil union gay couples need powers of attorney?”

Here is what I discovered from Lambda Legal about New Jersey Civil Unions¹:

Q: Even if my partner and I enter into a New Jersey civil union, are there other precautions we should take?

A: Yes. A civil union is new in New Jersey, and legal statuses for same-sex couples are just beginning to be established in various forms elsewhere in the country. This is a rapidly evolving legal area with much uncertainty. Our experience with New Jersey's domestic partnerships shows us that a status other than marriage is confusing to some people, and invites all people to be discriminatory — despite what the law requires — because a separate status signals unworthiness. Further, the federal government and many other states may not respect your New Jersey civil union, so it is especially important to consider whether you have adequate protections if you are traveling outside of the state. You should consult with an attorney if possible about steps you should take apart from your civil union to provide more security to one another and to your family. For example, you can better protect each other through legal documents like wills, health care proxies, advance directives, cohabitation agreements and powers of attorney. Many of these legal protections are routinely obtained by married couples as well to afford greater security for their family; they can be that much more important for same-sex couples whose New Jersey civil unions may not be respected outside of the state.

:  http://www.lambdalegal.org/our-work/publications/facts-backgrounds/nj-civil-unions-faq.html

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