Source: unitedafa.org

As a result of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling of August 29, 2013 legal same gender spouses will be recognized as “spouses” for health & welfare benefits, retirement plan benefits and pass travel entitlements at United Airlines.

As previously announced, as of September 16, 2013, employees with legal same gender spouses will be treated as having a qualifying status change or “life event” for the purposes of health & welfare benefits.  Employees had 45 days from the September 16, 2013 date to add &/or change their eligible dependents and to make mid-year changes to their health care benefits.  All changes made during this 45-day window will have an effective date of October 1, 2013.

Over the past several weeks we’ve received a number of questions from employees with same gender spouses who have had difficulty obtaining clarification on the processes being used to record these changes as well being able to speak with someone at the company having all of the information to address questions or inconsistencies.

There are three (3) necessary steps to add a same-gender spouse to our benefit & entitlement programs:

1. To add eligible(s) to your health & welfare benefits or to change a currently covered domestic partner to a same-gender spouse, the United Airlines Benefit Center must be contacted at 800 651 1007.  (Hours of operation – Monday – Friday, 7A-7P.)
2. To add your spouse for the purposes of travel entitlements, you must make this change through the company website at My Info/All About Me.  Note: If your spouse was listed as your domestic partner, it is essential that you delete your domestic partner listing and add your spouse.
3. To support these changes, you are required to provide a copy of your Certificate of Marriage for verification by FAX to Employee Information Services (EIS) at 713 324 2323.

It should not surprise you if there is a short lapse in the availability of travel entitlements to your spouse during the period when the records are updated and this third step is completed.  Contact EIS at 713 324 5327 with questions or to confirm receipt of this documentation.

Another area of confusion is related to the imputed income added to your salary for health & welfare benefits and travel entitlements.  A critical component of the determination of your eligibility for a refund of FICA taxes and downward adjustments to imputed income figures is the actual date of marriage.  The date of marriage is not only critical for making the determination of any refunds, it also sets the date at which future additions of imputed income for health & welfare benefits as well as the value of pass travel entitlements cease to be added to your total income.

For example, if you are married as of November 1, 2013, the addition of imputed income ceases as of November 1, 2013.  However, if you were married several years ago, the IRS will allow refunds of FICA and income taxes going back as far as 2010  to include 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013.

The IRS will not permit United Airlines to refund income taxes over withheld in these prior years,  However, you may be able to seek a refund of these income tax amounts with the IRS  by filing an amended income tax return.  (Please consult your tax professional for additional assistance with this process.)

United is permitted by IRS regulations to refund FICA taxes that were over withheld during the 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013 tax years provided you are prepared to confirm that you will not seek a refund a refund of any related FICA charges on your own and date of your marriage supports this recalculation.  However, you must make an election to have this done by United and are required to fill out the FICA Tax Refund Confirmation Form and return that to United no later than February 14, 2014.  You must have a marriage certificate with a date prior to 2014 on file with EIS in order for United to process the FICA Tax Refund.  This will permit United the opportunity to reissue your W2c forms in a timely manner.  If the form is not received by February 14, 2014, United Payroll will neither issue you a W2c nor will they refund any over collected FICA taxes for 2010, 2011, 2012 and/or 2013, as applicable to your particular situation based on the date of your marriage.

If you want to confirm that your FICA Tax Refund Confirmation Form was received, please contact the Payroll Care Center at 1-877-825-3729 (option 3).

Please note:  Since the deadline to file an amended tax return for 2011, 2012 & 2013 is later than the deadline to file an amended income return for 2010, United has indicated that the priority will be to prepare the corrected W2 (W2c) forms for 2010.  W2c forms for calendar years 2011, 2012 & 2013 will be prepared later in 2014.

State and Local Taxes May Still Apply Giving Rise to Imputed Income Figures on Pay Advices
Another question that has arisen from employees who have same-gender spouses is resulting from the continuing appearance of imputed income amounts on Payroll documents following completion of the steps above.  It is important to recognize that while the IRS ruling provides that health & welfare benefits as well as travel entitlements by your spouse and eligible dependents are exempt from Federal income taxes, state and/or local income taxes may be applicable depending upon your state of residence.

Consider Completing a New W4  - Exemption Form
As an additional consideration, employees should be aware that making these changes to add a same-gender spouse for health & welfare benefits and pass travel entitlements does nothing to make adjustments to federal income tax withholding based on the additional dependents.  While it is not our intent to make recommendations on how you should determine the number of exemptions you claim for the purposes of income tax withholding, it is our desire to ensure you are aware that an additional step is required to make changes to the number of exemptions you are declaring to the company.   In order to accomplish a change to these numbers, you must complete a new W4 form and provide it to Payroll in order for any of those changes to become effective.  There are different forms that apply for Federal and State exemptions.