Susan Stoffer Quoted in Employee Benefit News
"Pitfalls Await Employers Adopting Partner Benefits"

Susan Stoffer was quoted in the June 15, 2009 Employee Benefit News article, "Pitfalls Await Employers Adopting Partner Benefits." The article discussed the tax and legal considerations for employers avowing equal benefits for same-sex couples and their families. Sue noted, "Unless you have a true tax dependent, the coverage of the domestic partner is going to be taxable income to the employee. Also, the domestic partner can't be covered under a flex spending account." Sue also added that in general, a child is determined a dependant if he or she derives 50% or more of their living expenses from the employee.

According to the article, same-sex married individuals and those in a domestic partnership who cannot take advantage of benefits funded with pretax dollars are at a great disadvantage compared to opposite-sex spouses. Sue mentioned that for 2010, the Pension Protection Act provides nonspousal beneficiaries the same rollover rights that spousal beneficiaries have. Sue further added that since the IRS does not recognize same-sex couples as spousal partners for tax purposes, the employer will need to "play with the language governing beneficiary determinations and coverage eligibility criteria" to make that partner eligible to receive benefits.

Additionally, Sue recommended that in preparation for all the above modifications, employers should create enrollment forms and develop attestations forms and procedures. Sue concluded that these documents should be rewritten to redefine a company's definition of a spouse and a dependant, as more often than not employers will include coverage for dependants of domestic partners.