Despite being legally married overseas, the ATO has deemed it illegal for two gay men to submit a joint tax return as other married couples do. This is quite simply because same sex marriages are not lawful in Australia.
The oddness of this decision tho is highlighted by the couple having been able to submit a joint return in previous years. Why? Because until this year the sex of the spouse wasn’t asked! From this year however it *is* and so any joint same sex returns will be rejected.
This will bring into sharp relief Little Johnhie’s pledge to remove legal discrimination against gays in.
Maybe the test case for his new even handed policies will come sooner than he’d like as the couple are set to refuse to submit a return until the law allows them to submit a joint return.
Knowing how the ATO works, it could well be 5 years before they take action against these two… so don’t hold your breath waiting for immediate action.
The Eclectic Interweb 