Revenue official: Kansas will not accept same-sex couples’ joint returns until 2015 tax year

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office stated in a federal court brief last week that the state was now accepting joint tax returns from same-sex couples, but that appears to be somewhat contradicted by an e-mail from a Department of Revenue official sent Monday.

Assistant Attorneys General M.J. Willoughby and Steve Fabert argued in a brief that a federal lawsuit against the state should be dismissed because state agencies are now recognizing same-sex marriages and treating them the same as heterosexual marriages.

“And Kansas income tax returns filed jointly are now being accepted for all married couples,” the brief stated on its second page.

However, an e-mail forwarded to The Eagle from Richard Cram, policy director for the Kansas Department of Revenue, and sent Monday morning states otherwise.

Cram’s e-mail notes that the agency has pulled down a policy from its website stating that it does not recognize same-sex marriages.

“However, we are still waiting to hear from the Governor’s legal staff on exactly what that will mean, i.e., can we now accept ‘married filing joint’ returns from validly married same sex couples, and if so, for which tax years?” Cram said in an e-mail to another revenue official Monday morning, noting that he’s hoping for instructions from the governor’s office early this week.

That appears to contradict the state’s legal filing that says joint tax returns “are now being accepted for all married couples.” Late Monday, the revenue department confirmed that same-sex couples won’t be able to submit joint state tax returns until next year.

Asked about the apparent contradiction, the Attorney General’s Office sent a sworn affidavit from Cram, which was also part of the federal court filing. But Cram’s affidavit merely states that the policy against same-sex couples has been taken down from the website and is no longer considered valid. It does not explicitly state that the agency is accepting joint returns.

Clint Blaes, the attorney general’s director of communications, sent an additional e-mail saying that the office has confirmed with the Department of Revenue that the statements in the brief are accurate. He would not respond directly to the apparent contradiction in Cram’s e-mail and deferred additional questions to the Department of Revenue.

Jeannine Koranda, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Revenue, initially would not clarify the matter.

“Going forward, same sex couples who are legally married will be able to file joint tax returns,” Koranda said in an e-mail, repeating the agency’s same response from the previous week.

Pressed on what that statement meant, Koranda said in a follow-up e-mail hours later that “Legally married couples may file joint tax returns for tax year 2015.”

Those returns wouldn’t be processed until next year.

That would mean that same-sex couples who married in 2014 when the state’s same-sex marriage ban was struck down by a federal judge would be unable to file jointly for this year, as many have been trying to do.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s office would not respond to Cram’s contention that the Revenue Department was waiting on the governor’s attorneys to instruct the agency on which tax years it can accept joint filings from same-sex couples.

The starting point is important, because if the policy has to be applied retroactively, the state could owe same-sex couples a significant amount of money. It also could be an important factor in whether the pending lawsuit is dismissed.

Doug Bonney, chief counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, would not discuss the state’s motion to dismiss the case, but he did note that many couples were married last year when the state’s ban was struck down and that many others had been legally married in previous years in other states.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, a gay-rights organization that first alerted The Eagle to the e-mail, accused the state of lying in its federal court brief.

“I look at this stuff and see the Brownback people basically lying to try and get a case dismissed when it’s clear that people’s constitutional rights are being trampled on,” Witt said.

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Revenue official: Kansas will not accept same-sex couples’ joint returns until 2015 tax year."