S 2178119th CongressIn Committee

Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 2025

Introduced: Jun 26, 2025

Economy & Taxes

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

The Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 2025 is a Senate bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to ensure that legally married same-sex couples are treated exactly the same as other married couples across all tax provisions. The central approach is to remove gendered language and replace it with neutral terms such as “married couple,” “spouse,” or “the individual,” so that the tax code applies uniformly regardless of the spouses’ genders. The bill also clarifies certain tax rules where couples are treated as a unit (for example, for joint returns, community property issues, and specific credits), and it makes conforming changes to reflect these neutral terms throughout the code. In short, the bill is about language and clarity—ensuring equal dignity and equal application of tax rules for all legally married couples, including same-sex marriages. It would require broad updates to many code sections, including those governing joint returns, gifts, credits, estates, and community-property rules, as well as aligning related tables and definitions.

Key Points

1Neutralizing gendered language across the Code: The bill replaces terms like “husband and wife,” “his spouse,” and related gendered language with gender-neutral phrases such as “married couple,” “the individual,” or “the taxpayer,” in a large number of code sections.
2Rules for all legally married couples: Section 2 establishes that all provisions shall apply to legally married same-sex couples in the same manner as other married couples, including provisions that use terms like “married couple” or “the spouse of the taxpayer.”
3Treating married couples as a unit where appropriate: The bill includes specific changes that would treat certain married couples as a single unit or as 1 partner for purposes of certain credits, estate considerations, and community-income rules (for example, a marriage treated as 1 partner for specific subparagraphs and the treatment of community income under 911).
4Conforming amendments to key joint-filing and gifting provisions: The bill would rename and reframe important sections (for example, Section 2513 on gifts and Section 6013 on joint returns) to reflect “married couple” language and remove gendered references.
5Section 3 gender-of-spouses language overhaul: A broad provision that replaces “his spouse” with “the individual's spouse” or similar neutral phrasing across many parts of the Code, along with corresponding conforming changes to replace “his taxable year” with “the individual’s (or the taxpayer’s) taxable year,” and related adjustments.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected- Legally married taxpayers, including same-sex couples, who file and pay taxes under the Internal Revenue Code; tax preparers and the IRS would also be affected as forms, instructions, and guidance would need updating to reflect the neutral language and any practical changes in how joint returns and related computations are handled.Secondary group/area affected- Families and estates where joint filing, gifts, and community-property considerations apply; financial planners and estate planners who rely on precise definitions in the code would experience changes in terminology and potentially in how certain rules are interpreted or communicated.Additional impacts- Administrative and implementation effects for government forms, publications, and systems (IRS forms, notices, and instructions would need updates to reflect neutral language and any unit/ Partnership treatment changes).- No explicit new tax benefits are created by the bill; the primary effect is to ensure equal, non-discriminatory application of existing tax rules and to modernize language across the code.

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