tax day

Though Greg and I filed our taxes electronically in February, here's some info to chew on from the Human Rights Campaign:

Taxation of Domestic Partner Benefits

As a growing number of employers offer domestic partner benefits, gays and lesbians are discovering a hitch – domestic partner benefits, unlike health benefits provided to married heterosexual couples, are taxed as income. As a result, gay and lesbian employees take home relatively less income than their married heterosexual co-workers who perform exactly the same job.

For example, a gay or lesbian employee earning $40,000 a year and receiving domestic partner health insurance benefits toward which the employer contributes $250 a month would owe income and payroll taxes on a total of $43,000 in income at the end of the year.

A married heterosexual employee earning the same salary and receiving the same health benefits for his or her spouse would owe income and payroll taxes on only $40,000.

What HRC is doing. The Human Rights Campaign is working to equalize federal tax treatment of health benefits for married couples and domestic partners. Specifically, HRC is advocating that the federal government end the taxation of health benefits provided by employers to any beneficiaries covered under an employee’s benefits plan, including domestic partners.