If you or someone you know is in a Washington State Registered Domestic Partnership, PLEASE let them know that when filing your 2010 tax returns this year, the IRS has determined that a Washington State Registered Domestic Partner must now report half the combined community income earned by the individual and her or his domestic partner! This is a new position held by the IRS in the treatment of income earned by Washington State Registered Domestic Partners. The IRS is now applying community property laws that it has applied to married couples; and the IRS is now applying "income-splitting" for community property that it has applied to married couples who file their income tax returns separately.

This information has come to GSBA though our members and the legal and tax-accounting community. Your GSBA legal and tax professions recently held a roundtable discussion last week about this new IRS's treatment of Washington State Registered Domestic Partners. PLEASE be sure to consult with your own legal and tax-accounting professionals about the IRS's new determination for Washington State Registered Domestic Partners and how exactly individual partners in a Washington State Registered Domestic Partnership are directly impacted.

The following Lambda Legal bulletins and the IRS publication noting the new IRS positions are linked here for further information on the IRS's new holding.

Lambda Legal Domestic Partnership Brief

Income Splitting FAQs by Lambda Legal

IRS Pub 555 Community Property