The many questions regarding tax returns and federal benefits that gay couples across the country were faced with in the wake of the US Supreme Court's gutting of Section 3 of DOMA have continued to linger despite a promise from the IRS in June that it would “move swiftly to provide revised guidance in the near future." Bloomberg news reports that couples are still waiting for the IRS' guidance on how to tackle a myriad of issues including tax refunds, health insurance, and joint accounts, among others:

After years of fighting for equal tax-and-benefit treatment, married couples now await guidance on how the Internal Revenue Service and federal agencies will implement the ruling. Without it, those who file for tax refunds may end up paying more, not less.

Married
couples in states that don't recognize gay marriage and those who
delayed filing their 2012 returns in anticipation of the court's
decision in June are pressing for clarity. Spouses computing whether to
seek refunds from prior returns see the three-year statute of
limitations for amendments closing as they look to the IRS for details.

“We
are desperately awaiting that guidance,” said Shari Levitan, chairwoman
of the New England private wealth services group at Holland &
Knight LLP in Boston.
“The major question for clients is for returns that are still open, and
even those that are beyond the statute of limitations, can they be
amended?”

Without IRS guidance, couples who extended their 2012
return deadline to Oct. 15 and who live in a state that doesn't
recognize their marriage will probably file their federal returns
jointly and disclose they are doing so based on the court's decision,
Levitan said. She serves high-net-worth clients, about 10 percent of
them same-sex couples.

“That's a risk,” because the IRS could deem they filed incorrectly, she said.