Tax Day extra difficult for many same-sex married couples

Tax Day is a necessary burden for most Americans. But it’s an accounting nightmare for thousands of gay and lesbian couples as they wrestle with the uneven legal status of same-sex marriage in the United States.

They live a country that recognizes their marriages, but some reside in the 13 states that don’t.

It’s an issue that will be argued before the Supreme Court later this month.

The situation is complicated at tax time because most state income tax returns use information from a taxpayer’s federal return.

Straight couples simply copy numbers from one form to another.

But that doesn’t work for same-sex couples reporting combined incomes and deductions on their federal returns. These couples must untangle their finances on their state returns, where they’re still considered single.