By Marcie Geffner - Bankrate.com
Most married couples take their special tax benefits as property owners for granted. But gay and lesbian couples who tie the knot in California or Massachusetts may not be able to take full advantage of certain property-related tax breaks because federal law doesn't recognize their marriages.
California and Massachusetts now consider so-called "same-sex" marriages to be equivalent to traditional, now so-called "opposite sex," marriages. However, federal agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, must take their cue from the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, according to John W. Roth, a senior tax analyst with tax-software provider CHH Group. DOMA stipulates that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in the U.S.
Read the rest of this story: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mtg/20080904-same-sex-marriages-a1.asp?prodtype=mtg