|
The Star-Ledger
Civil union couples
must wait to file
joint tax returns,
court rules
by Kate Coscarelli,
nj.com from the Web. August
A state appeals panel today said
same-sex couples could not file a joint New Jersey income tax return last year,
even though they were married, outside the state, before the sweeping civil
union law went into effect.
Roslyn Quarto and Judith Prichason married four years ago in Canada and
registered as domestic partners in New Jersey as soon as the civil union law
went into effect on Feb. 19. The law was meant to grant the same legal
protections to same-sex couples as their heterosexual counterparts.
Quarto and Prichason wanted to file a joint 2006 tax return -- even though an
accountant found they would have to pay $411 more as a couple. They were
rebuffed by the state Division of Taxation. The division said its
long-standing practice was that a couple must have been married in the year that
their income was earned in order to file a joint return.
The judges said that the couple is certainly entitled to file joint returns in
future years, but held the division was not required to allow joint returns last
year.
The court called the issue "transitional" and said the division may use a
reasonable period to adjust its forms and procedures to conform with the law,
the panel wrote.
Judge Edwin Stern filed a concurring opinion expressing reservations about
denying the couple the right to file a joint return, but said he would defer to
the state's high court.
"This is yet another example of how separate is never equal and the civil union
law results in very real discrimination," said Ed Barocas, legal director of the
American Civil Liberties Union - New Jersey, which represented the couple.
|
