Ti v.¢ Expert Analysis COMMENT. The Supreme Court deci- Post-Death IRA Payments. When a surviv- persons is apparently not only prospective sion will presumably trigger tie-breaker ing spouse is the beneficiary of an individual starting June 26, 2013, the date of the rules and divorce settlement agreements retirement account (IRA) he or she has cer- Windsor decision, but also presumably previously available only to opposite-sex tain options not granted to other beneficia- applies retroactively to all open years. married couples. ries, including the ability to rollover the de- Nevertheless, in the case of attribution cedent’s IRA, tax free, to another retirement rules, application of marital status for Education Benefits. Access to a number of plan. And, if the surviving spouse is the sole same-sex spouses may not necessarily re- education tax credits by same-sex couples _ beneficiary, he or she can elect to treat the late back to transactions already com- has been limited, both because of a student’s IRA as if it were his or her own. These op- pleted. The need under the tax laws to status as a member or non-member of the _ tions may allow the survivor to delay the have finality for transactions as they oc- taxpayer's family and because lower phase- start of required minimum distributions cur appears to be the overriding argument out levels that apply to unmarried filers. (RMDs) from the account and to stretch in favor of not giving retroactive effect to out the payment of RMDs over a longer pe- family attribution. Eventual IRS guid- a AOTC and Lifetime Learning Credit: tiod of time. DOMA had foreclosed these ance on this issue is anticipated. B A taxpayer can claim the American Op- _ more favorable spousal benefits for same-sex portunity Tax Credit (AOTC) or the married spouses. The Supreme Court’s deci- Resident And Non-Resident Aliens. Pre- o Lifetime Learning Credit for qualified sion in Windsor presumably opens up these — sumably, the Supreme Court’s decision ap-