California Tax Preparer Expertise Needed For Domestic Partnerships
Sharing has a whole new meaning for anyone conducting a tax preparer job in California for same-sex couples. The recognition of domestic partnerships - when combined with community property laws - results in equal sharing of all income. Therefore, each individual shares in half the income regardless of who earned it.A California tax preparer is familiar with how this situation affects state and federal reporting of income. The community property states of Nevada and Washington have created the same circumstances with their domestic partnership laws.
The income tax preparation for state returns must divide the income equally according to the community property laws of the state. But federal income tax returns still report only separately earned income. The individuals in these cases use a filing status of single since that's the only option for domestic partners under IRS rules.