Extra tax prep for same-sex married pairs

Blame it on DOMA.

That's the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which defines marriage as a "legal union between one man and one woman." It does not recognize same-sex marriages.

New York State now does. And this disparity is likely to make the upcoming tax season costlier for married same-sex couples, according to Long Island tax lawyers, accountants and gay advocates.

Same-sex married couples must now file state income tax returns using a married filing status, but they must continue to file either as singles or heads of households on their federal returns.

Such couples will have to fill out federal returns twice -- they will have to file an official return as individuals; however, they also must complete a dummy return as if they were married so that they will be able to compute their New York State taxes.

"It's going to entail multiple calculations," said Robert Barnett, a partner at the Jericho-based tax firm Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld. "It's going to be more expensive."

David Kilmnick, chief executive of the advocacy group Long Island GLBT Services Network, said the extra time and costs are discriminatory and that "this may be a catalyst" for fighting to repeal DOMA. Harvey Susnick, a partner at the tax accounting firm Berdon Llp in Jericho, said DOMA is being challenged in the courts, "but this could be a long-term situation."

Meanwhile, Angela Askew, a product manager for CCH, one of the nation's largest providers of tax, accounting and audit information, in Riverwoods, Ill., said the company is working to perfect software to deal with the differences in state and federal tax returns.

"Things change quickly," she said "but we can handle it."