Taxes in a post Roe society

Content warnings: abortions, violence, alt-right

This will be a short piece because I am processing the enormous blow that the Supreme Court has dealt people who can get pregnant with this ruling. But here are a few thoughts that I think tax professionals and their clients should consider in light of this ruling. This is not intended to be fully comprehensive.

Justice Thomas in his concurring opinion invited states to begin challenging same-sex marriage, contraceptives, and privacy rights. We will see this affect our clients in a myriad of ways. As tax professionals, our job is to make our clients feel safe while they trust with their lives—financial data is revealing. They trust us knowing their struggles and triumphs, their divorces and marriages, deaths and births.

We also contain in our offices a large amount of personal data. If you don’t already have strong data security practices in place, this is the time to do so. Check your E&O insurance for data breach coverage and subpoena coverage.

Talk with your clients about having powers of attorney, especially your same-sex clients. Know attorneys who are open with same-sex couples to ensure they get their custody papers, certificates, and financial lives in order. Be sure they get those signed Form 2848s and state specific powers-of-attorney. The IRS will take a power of attorney created by an attorney but it doesn’t go to the Centralized Authorization File (CAF) Unit and it’s a real pain in the butt to navigate around that. If you’re a client, don’t be afraid to ask your tax pro about getting a tax power of attorney.

IVF procedures will most likely not be continued because of a state’s definition of what constitutes life. If there was a tax discussion around this, let them know this deduction is gone. If you discussed this with your tax pro, reach out to them.

Clients may inquire about offering benefits to employees to travel for abortions. Make resources on accountable plans and employee reimbursements available. Form a relationship with an insurance adviser who is open to discussing healthcare plans that cover these sorts of procedures.

Properly vet your working relationships. You do not want to refer same-sex couples or trans people to attorneys or financial advisers or insurance navigators who are hostile to these individuals.

If you are a client, don’t be afraid to ask questions. You can even gauge attitudes by offering your pronouns in emails and in calls to see how a potential tax pro acts (Our firm is inclusive and readers I can refer you to others, if you’d like).

If you are in a state that bans abortion, think about your employees who may have need of one. What sort of support are you willing to offer? As our country begins to alter laws that will drastically harm certain populations, companies will need to offer benefits and security and be prepared to lose employees who will move to states that will protect them. Does your healthcare cover abortions procedures? Are you willing to pay for your employee to travel? Do you have a generous vacation or sick day policy?

I don’t know if I’m being cynical or not when I say prepare for more tax protestors.

There are also some states who are considering changing the definition of qualifying child to include a fetus. I have no idea how that would be enforceable and what happens in light of a miscarriage or a stillbirth? (IRS already considers a stillborn child not to be eligible for the child tax credit, but if you change the definition, then this could go out the window).

I think, my fellow tax pros, we are going to see this battle move into the tax code.

Finally, if you don’t want to subject yourself to vitriol or alt-right rhetoric, begin winnowing your client list. You know who these clients are. I can name five of mine off the top of my head who have expressed some strong alt-right opinions. This is a safety concern now. They can call the police on you and have you investigated. In places like Texas, this is happening. It’s your firm, you decide who you want to serve.

For tax publications to follow, I suggest ITEP.org and Tax Policy Center. And my girl Nina Olson’s Center for Taxpayer Rights.

I am scared and I am angry, but these are a few things that I know to do and I also know what my great-uncle who survived the Shoah said to me. We are the promise of a better world. We are the faith that it is possible. We have our ancestors’ knowledge, strengths, and wisdom. We may not complete the task of healing the world, but we must never shirk from it.