Some same-sex couples receive worrisome letter from Dept. of Revenue
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Dozens of same-sex couples in central Indiana say they’ve received letters from the Department of Revenue, telling them there could be a mistake on their 2013 taxes. Some of the letters said the couples owe money to the state.
Troy Bond received a letter from the Department of Revenue and was immediately worried.
“I’ve always been somebody that wants to do everything just right as far as taxes go, because you don’t want to make any mistakes,” said Bond.
Bond said he was very surprised when he read the letter that said he still owed $1,780 on his 2013 taxes.
“I had to think back three years for why that could have been, because when you get a letter like that you’re kind of…shocked. ‘Where am I going to come up with this extra money for taxes?’” said Bond.
Bond quickly realized why his 2013 taxes were the issue. A 2013 Supreme Court ruling meant the the federal government would recognize same-sex marriages. Because Bond and his husband had gotten married in Iowa in 2011, they could file their federal taxes jointly. On their Indiana taxes, they filed as single individuals.
24-Hour News 8 took the issue to the Department of Revenue. A spokesperson said same-sex couples are receiving letters because their state and federal filing status were not the same.
“Those two files are not matching. So we may have generated a contact to that taxpayer, to let them know there’s a discrepancy from their federal filings and their state filing,” said Amanda Stanley with the Department of Revenue.
Stanley said it’s not a problem if couples’ 2013 marital status doesn’t match on state and federal filings. The couple might not owe money and the issue should be resolved with a phone call. Stanley also said it’s not exclusively same-sex couples receiving the letters.
“The letters went out to a multitude of different types of taxpayers. It just happens to be that this particular change caught same-sex couples who had gotten married and were filing jointly with the IRS,” said Stanley.
Still, for many couples it’s scary and frustrating.
“Just a little bit of an annoyance that we had to prove that we did what was right, according to what they wanted to us to do three years ago,” said Bond.
Bond wrote a letter to the Department of Revenue and is waiting on the issue to be resolved. Stanley said it’s possible the couples do not owe any money.
“They mostly likely will not owe it, if it’s just an issue of the match up between the federal and the state. We’ll work with them to determine whether or not they do owe anything,” said Stanley.
If you received the letter, you should call the Department of Revenue to resolve the issue.