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S 2197
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Refund Equality Act of 2025

To permit legally married same-sex couples to amend their filing status for tax returns outside the statute of limitations.

Introduced Jun 26, 2025

Latest action (Jun 26, 2025) Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Referred to
Finance Committee
Policy area
Taxation
Issues
Economy & Taxes

Summary

This bill allows legally married same-sex couples whose marriages were not recognized for federal tax purposes before September 2013 to amend their prior tax returns to file jointly instead of separately. Specifically, it extends the normal three-year deadline for filing joint returns after filing separate returns to the date this bill is enacted, allowing these couples to potentially claim refunds for earlier tax years. The bill also extends the standard three-year period for claiming tax refunds for these amended returns and waives certain limitations on refund claims that would normally apply. The amendments are limited to changes in marital status only and do not affect other aspects of the tax returns.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
46 cosponsors

Actions (2)
  1. Jun 26, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
  2. Jun 26, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • HR 4163 — PRIDE Act of 2025 · Introduced Jun 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 78%
  • S 2178 — Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 2025 · Introduced Jun 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 74%
  • HR 4157 — Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act · Introduced Jun 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 69%
  • HR 320 — Make Marriage Great Again Act of 2025 · Introduced Jan 9, 2025 · Cong. 119 67%
  • S 2129 — SAFE Tax Filing Act of 2025 · Introduced Jun 18, 2025 · Cong. 119 62%
  • HR 9626 — To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the State and local tax deduction marriage penalty. · Introduced Jul 9, 2026 · Cong. 119 61%

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 26 (legislative day, June 24), 2025

Ms. Warren (for herself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Bennet, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Coons, Ms. Duckworth, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Reed, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Smith, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Booker, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. King, Mr. Kim, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Alsobrooks, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Warner, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Welch, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Peters, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Schatz, and Mr. Murphy) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To permit legally married same-sex couples to amend their filing status for tax returns outside the statute of limitations.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Refund Equality Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF LIMITATION FOR CERTAIN LEGALLY MARRIED COUPLES.

(a) In General.—In the case of an individual first treated as married for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by the application of the holdings of Revenue Ruling 2013-17—

(1) if such individual filed a return (other than a joint return) for a taxable year ending before September 16, 2013, for which a joint return could have been made by the individual and the individual’s spouse but for the fact that such holdings were not effective at the time of filing, such return shall be treated as a separate return within the meaning of section 6013(b) of such Code and the time prescribed by section 6013(b)(2)(A) for filing a joint return after filing a separate return shall not expire before the date prescribed by law (including extensions) for filing the return of tax for the taxable year that includes the date of the enactment of this Act; and

(2) in the case of a joint return filed pursuant to paragraph (1)—

(A) the period of limitation prescribed by section 6511(a) of such Code for any such taxable year shall be extended until the date prescribed by law (including extensions) for filing the return of tax for the taxable year that includes the date of the enactment of this Act; and

(B) section 6511(b)(2) shall not apply to any claim of credit or refund with respect to such return.

(b) Amendments, etc. Restricted to Change in Marital Status.— Subsection (a) shall apply only with respect to amendments to the return of tax, and claims for credit or refund, relating to a change in the marital status for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 of the individual. <all>

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