The following blog entry was contributed by: Albert Spenadel, CPA, MST, owner of Spenadel Tax and Accounting Services. He can be reached at alspenadelcpa@comcast.net.
Given the diversity of Wicker Park and Bucktown, the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) has an important announcement regarding filing of your 2011 tax return for those covered by Illinois Civil Union Law. If you and your same-sex partner are in a civil union, you must file either “Married Jointly” or “Married Separately” even though this is not allowed by Federal tax law. You will also not be able to E-file your Illinois Form IL-1040 tax return. Instead, those taxpayers in a civil union will have to mail their tax return to the IDOR. This will delay any refund, which still can be direct deposited, because E-filing speeds up receiving your Illinois refund.
This means that you and your partner will have to file your Federal return with a filing status of “Single” or if you have a dependent, as “Head of Household.” You’ll need to prepare, but not file with the IRS, another Federal return to figure your taxes on your Illinois tax return.
For more information, go to the Illinois Department of Revenue website or click here.
