Janis Cowhey, Co-Leader of the Modern Family & LGBT Services Group, Quoted in Financial Advisor Article, "Supreme Court Rulings' Impact On Tax Planning."
Financial Advisor
By Eric Reiner
Excerpt:
Some recent high-profile U.S. Supreme Court decisions have clarified the tax situations for many clients of financial advisors.
“It levels the playing field for everybody,” said Janis Cowhey, a partner at Marcum LLP in New York and co-leader of the firm’s Modern Family & LGBT Services Practice Group. “Now it’s just about planning for a couple and a family.”
Affected clients in other states should wait to file amended returns until their state has provided guidance, unless an open year is about to close because of the statute of limitations expiring, advises Janis Cowhey, a partner and co-leader of the Modern Family & LGBT Services Practice Group at the accounting firm Marcum LLP in New York City.
In the future, tax compliance will be simpler for same-sex couples. In the non-recognition states, in order to file as singles at the state level, couples had to trace deductions to the partner who actually paid the expense-a painful record-keeping exercise. But now with the ability to jointly file state returns, the need to trace disappears. “They can look at their deductions as a household unit,” Cowhey says.
