Not so fast, a New Jersey court is telling gay couples who are looking to make good on the promise of equal rights. Just because NJ couples are allowed to get together under the civil union umbrella, that move didn't take effect until Feb. 19, which means twosomes looking to file joint tax returns are out of luck for 2006 returns. Technically, because the date started in the middle of the '06 fiscal year, they don't get to mark the "couple" box until 2007's filings.

In the initial lawsuit filed by Maureen Quarto and Judith Prichason – who wed in Canada, and then had their union recognized in New Jersey – "the state Division of Taxation said no, reasoning that their union was not recognized in the 2006 year and that it could be hard administratively to deal with more couples filing jointly."