I think the Internal Revenue Service did a good job getting real guidance issued on the meaning of the United States Supreme Court’s finding that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional. On August 29, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Ruling 2013-17 (binding guidance) and some new FAQs (not binding, but often just restating the binding guidance).

Key points of the ruling:

The Internal Revenue Code and regulations should be read in a gender neutral manner. This is helpful because there are several references in both to “husband and wife” rather than always “spouse.” Read More