All legally married same-sex couples will be entitled to the same rights and benefits under the U.S. Tax Code as opposite-sex couples, regardless of what state they live in, under Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service rules announced last week.

The rules apply to all federal tax provisions relative to marital status, including a couple's filing status, available personal and dependency exemptions and standard deduction calculations, as well as contributions made to individual retirement accounts and employer-sponsored health and retirement plans. That will mean, for example, that federal taxes are no longer owed on employer contributions for health plan coverage provided to married same-sex couples.

The rules were announced two months after the U.S. Supreme Court's June 26 decision to overturn Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which had previously prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages by confining the definition of marriage to the union of a man and a woman.

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