Background
On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the landmark case,
United States v. Windsor, found the provisions of that portion of
the "Defense of Marriage Act" ("DOMA") which
provided that only opposite-sex individuals could be treated as
lawfully married and a husband and wife for federal law purposes
was unconstitutional (the "Windsor Decision"). Thus,
following the Windsor Decision, federal law requires recognition
under federal law of otherwise valid same-sex marriages.
The Windsor Decision, however, raised a number of questions
concerning (i) how an individual's marital status will be
determined for federal tax purposes (because marital status is
generally a state law-based determination), (ii) how and when
same-sex spousal status will apply under qualified retirement
plans, and (iii) what amendments to such plans will be required and
what is the timing for the adoption of such amendments.
Previous IRS guidance addressed the question described in
clause (i) above. Recently issued IRS guidance responds to
other open questions, namely: as of what date will the Windsor
Decision apply under qualified retirement plans, when are
retirement plan amendments required to comply with the Windsor
Decision, and if amendments are required, by what date must such
amendments be adopted. This Alert describes briefly the
earlier IRS Windsor guidance and provides a detailed
discussion of the new IRS Windsor guidance and its impact on
qualified retirement plans. For more information concerning
the Windsor Decision, please see our prior Alert.
To continue reading our Alert on this topic, please click here
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
