Tuesday, April 15, 2014

A very queer thank-you to H&R Block



Happy Tax Day! Time for my annual unsolicited praise for H&R Block! They've been working with us for years to trail-blaze through the ridiculous inconsistencies and annual changes in same-sex marriage tax filing, spending many unpaid hours doing their research and testing many case study filing options to get us the most money back and protect our legal "married" filing status.
This year was exciting for two reasons: first, it was the first year my wife and I could file just one filing for both of us (YAAAAY REPEAL OF DOMA!). And H&R Block went even further above and beyond, helping us re-file for the past three years (and assiduously researching various options for each year), since the IRS ruling on DOMA's repeal is retroactive for three years. And we're getting so much money back from those refilings (grad school loans, I'm coming for you)! It was expensive to be gay-married, and much more lucrative to be plain-old-married.
So, from the bottoms of our queer hearts, thank you H&R Block not only for the piles of money we're getting back, but for the fact that you went above and beyond to serve us, that you saw the extra work needed to serve us as part of the struggle for justice and therefore empowering and thrilling rather than an extra burden of work, that you placed the burden of extra work on your own shoulders rather than on ours, that you shared our excitement at each advance in marriage and tax law, and that you made us feel welcomed and respected and supported. You have no idea how important that is to us.