Updated: Q&A on Employee Benefits After DOMA Ruling & IRS Guidance

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In an updated article published by Practical Law Company, Stoel Rives attorney Howard Bye-Torre reviews new obligations and questions for employers in the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") ruling and subsequent IRS Guidance. In United States v. Windsor, the Court ruled that Section 3 of DOMA, which limited marriage under federal law to opposite sex marriage, was unconstitutional. As a result, spouses in same-sex marriages in states allowing those marriages will have the same rights and obligations under federal laws as spouses in opposite-sex marriages, including rights under the federal laws governing pension, health and welfare plans. Therefore, the ruling will affect the employers who sponsor such employee benefit plans.

In a Q&A format, Bye-Torre walks employers through the implications of the DOMA decision on employee benefits, including changes in the taxation of health coverage provided to same-sex spouses, the effect of the ruling on provisions of the Affordable Health Care Act, the impact of the ruling on retirement plans, HSAs, HRAs and flexible spending accounts, and IRS Revenue Ruling 2013-17, that clarified that all legally married same-sex couples will be recognized as married for federal tax purposes, including couples residing in states that don't recognize same-sex marriage.

Read the full article (PDF)

"Expert Q&A on Employee Benefits After the Supreme Court's Ruling that DOMA is Unconstitutional" was published by Practical Law Company, October 1, 2013. Republished with permission.

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