On Thursday, August 29, in response to the Supreme Court overturning a key portion of the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA), a handful of agencies announced they would be extending rights to married same-sex couples. Notably, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is one of them. This development means an extension of Medicare benefits to couples previously denied Medicare benefits because of DOMA. Same-sex married couples will be allowed to file joint federal tax returns, and as a result are able to claim marriage-related exemptions, employee benefits, claiming the earned income tax credit and other credits and deductions even if they live in jurisdictions that don’t recognize same-sex marriage. Continue reading →