The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has formally put into place, effective September 2, 2016, amendments to the regulations that define “who is married for tax purposes.” The new regulations state that it will interpret the term “
husband and wife” as any two people who are married to each other, even if they are a
same-sex couple. The IRS is addressing this issue as a result of the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Windsor (which struck down the section of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibiting recognition of
same-sex marriages for federal purposes) and the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges (that made same-sex marriage legal throughout the nation).
