[LCC] Domestic Partner Benefits and Imputed Income

[Jorge J. Bravo III]

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I am writing to get a sampling of how various institutions around the  
country are handling the issue of imputed income on domestic partner  
health benefits.  For those of you who may not know about this, the  
IRS requires that the value of the portion of health care coverage  
that an employer pays toward an employee's domestic partner be  
considered additional taxable income and subject to withholding, since  
a domestic partner is not a legal spouse.  I found the following short  
article from the HRC (http://www.hrc.org/issues/marriage/domestic_partners/4820.htm 
) helpful in learning about the matter.

This is an issue that only recently came to my attention because my  
own institution, from the time I was hired up until the beginning of  
the year, had not been making this calculation or withholding an extra  
amount from my paycheck.  It must have come to their attention that  
they were supposed to be doing this, and so they started doing this  
with my January paycheck.

It seems to me that this was an opportunity for the college to  
consider whether, as a matter of equality, it should attempt to  
redress this unfairness imposed by the tax code by adjusting the gross  
pay of employees with domestic partners to cover the extra amount  
taken out in taxes; but the college did not have any discussion about  
this, so far as I know.  So I have the following questions:  How is  
this issue being handled at your colleges and universities around the  
country?  Are there any institutions that do make the effort to  
correct this tax inequality by adjusting gross pay for employees  
relying on domestic partner benefits for health care?  Has this issue  
been raised, even unsuccessfully, at other institutions?


Regards,
Jorge


Jorge J. Bravo III
Visiting Assistant Professor

Department of Classical Languages
Carleton College
One North College St.
Northfield, MN 55057
USA

(507) 222-5136
Email: jbravo at carleton.edu