Tax law

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has ordered the state to recognize joint tax returns from same-sex couples who married in other states, according to the Associated Press. Missouri's tax code is tied to federal tax code, which now requires same-sex couples to file taxes together. 

"PROMO, a statewide organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, said Missouri is the lone state to let same-sex couples file jointly as married while not recognizing same-sex marriages," the AP reports.

As Twitter's initial public offering opened this week, The New York Times' DealBook reports that Twitter's "biggest potential tax shelter is its history of losing money. Like most growth companies, Twitter has accumulated a lot of operating losses. These losses, in theory, can be carried forward as net operating losses to offset future taxable income. But investors should not count on it." The net operating losses can't be carried forward as Twitter's ownership changes when "founders, venture capitalists and later-stage investors" sell their interests, the NYT reports.

We all like tax deductions (mortgage interest deduction, anyone?). Even though JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $13 billion to the Justice Department, corporate leaders also probably like the fact that they can claim a tax deduction on part of that settlement as an ordinary business expense. The Washington Post reports on the introduction of a Senate bill and a House of Representatives bill that would change "part of the law that lets companies receive tax deductions on payments made to resolve allegations of illegal conduct." Currently, companies cannot deduct portions of accords that are penalties or fines for violating the law, but  governmental "agencies, however, rarely spell out whether the entire monetary figure should be regarded as punitive."

The Illinois Supreme Court has become the first court in the country to find a federal law preempts a state law requiring sales taxes be paid on Internet sales, USA Today reports. The paper also reports: "the court determined that Illinois' 2011 'Main Street Fairness Act' was superseded by the federal law, which prohibits imposing a tax on 'electronic commerce' and obligates collection that's not required of transactions by other means, such as print or television." The issue might be primed for the U.S. Supreme Court as New York upheld its Internet sales tax-law and Amazon is appealing.

Bloomberg has an interesting piece on how the IRS decision to require same-sex spouses to file joint returns will play out. Prior to the feds' decision, same-sex couples would have to file jointly in the states that recognized their marriages but fill out 'fake' individual returns to file their federal taxes. Now same-sex spouses who live in states that don't recognize their legal relationships after getting married in jurisdictions that do will have to  file joint federal taxes but 'fake' state tax returns. Cohesion in taxes won't happen until every state recognizes same-sex marriage- or at least do not reference federal tax returns for state-level returns.