Rep. Ilhan Omar jointly filed tax returns prior to legal marriage

[TexasTowelie]

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was 19 years old in 2002 when she first applied for a Hennepin County marriage license with Ahmed Hirsi, a fellow Somali immigrant and “the love of my life.”

Though the couple would have three children together, split, and later reconcile, they never legally married until January of 2018. By then Omar represented a state House seat from Minneapolis and was on her way to a historic and ultimately successful run for Congress.

Long-standing questions about her complicated marriage and immigration history have dogged her ever since, never more so than on Thursday when a state campaign finance board revealed that Omar and Hirsi filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 — a period when she was legally married to another man.

The disclosure followed an inquiry sparked by a Republican lawmaker accusing Omar of using cash from her 2016 state House campaign to cover legal costs from her 2017 divorce from Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British national she had legally married in 2009 after her breakup with Hirsi.

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/rep-ilhan-omar-jointly-filed-tax-returns-prior-to-legal-marriage/511000692/

[democratisphere]

1. Looks like another rethuglicon takedown mess.

[still_one]

3. Regardless, all she needs to do is file an amended return. I don't see the issue here,

[watoos]

2. Looks like it's easy to get tax returns of Democrats.

[Lulu KC]

6. excellent point n/t

[marble falls]

4. They were a unit and had children, why shouldn't they file joint?

[Lulu KC]

5. Yes--isn't common law still a thing? n/t

[marble falls]

7. Especially in light of all the tax dodges the rich have going. They were trying to the right thing.

[progree]

8. On Common Law Marriage, the IRS, and Minnesota

From the article in the OP
http://www.startribune.com/rep-ilhan-omar-jointly-filed-tax-returns-prior-to-legal-marriage/511000692/

on Thursday when a state campaign finance board revealed that Omar and Hirsi filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 — a period when she was legally married to another man.
...
The Internal Revenue Service allows couples to file joint tax returns only if they are legally married in their states of residence. While some states recognize “common law” marriages, Minnesota does not. Joint filers often end up paying less in income tax than if they filed separately. The agency does not confirm or deny its audits or investigations, so officials would not reveal if they have looked into any past tax filings by Omar, a freshman Democratic House member.

https://info.legalzoom.com/can-two-people-married-common-law-file-taxes-jointly-26486.html

Can Two People Who Are Married at Common Law File Taxes Jointly?

There are two types of marriages in the United States. One type of marriage is the ceremonial marriage. A ceremonial marriage takes place when the parties obtain a marriage license, then celebrate their marriage before an official who has the power to perform marriages. The other kind of marriage is marriage at common law. Only a handful of states allow common law marriages when the spouses agree that they are married, live together, and hold themselves out to be husband and wife.

IRS Recognizes Common Law Marriage
The Internal Revenue Code allows a married couple to file a joint tax return. To determine whether a couple is married, the federal government looks to state law. The Internal Revenue Code allows a couple that claims to be married at common law to file jointly if they are living together in a common law marriage in a state that recognizes common law marriages. The Internal Revenue Code also permits a couple that married at common law in a state allowing common law marriages to file a joint tax return even when they now live in a state that does not recognize common law marriages.

http://jlslaw.net/divorce/is-there-common-law-marriage-in-minnesota/

Minnesota abolished common law marriage in 1941. In Minnesota a couple is legally married or just living together. Minnesota does, however, recognize common law marriages that were legally created outside of this state.

Couples living in this state who are not legally married do not have the same rights and privileges as those who are legally married.

[Lulu KC]

9. Learning experience--I just actually opened the article

and it is explained there.

They are all over her, while there is a herd of elephants in our collective living room.

[progree]

10. Yup. Learning experience for me too. And I've lived in Minnesota for 42 years and in a couple

relationships during that time that might be considered perhaps bordering on common law marriage, and didn't know for sure that common law marriage just flat out isn't an issue in Minnesota.

Yes, they are all over her. And ditto, a lot worse on the other side of the aisle and up on Pennsylvania Avenue, and the Cabinet and the relatives and ....