S. 2178 — Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 2025

This section revises multiple provisions throughout the Internal Revenue Code—including those governing child and dependent care credits (IRC §21), credits for the elderly and disabled (§22), low-income housing credits (§42), above-the-line deductions (§62), home sale exclusions (§121), casualty losses (§165), expensing (§179), medical expenses (§213), IRAs (§219), foreign earned income exclusions (§911), joint returns (§6013), and gift tax splitting (§2513)—to replace gender-specific terms such as "husband and wife" with gender-neutral terms such as "married couple" and "spouses." It also makes related substantive updates, including (1) treating married couples as a single partner for low-income housing credit building allocations (§42(j)(5)(C)); (2) specifying community income treatment for foreign earned income exclusions (§911(b)(2)(C)); (3) treating married couples as one person for certain original issue discount rules, absent living apart (§1272(a)(2)(D)(iii)); and (4) clarifying gift-splitting rules and former spouse references (§§2513, 2516).

This section amends numerous provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to replace gender-specific language—such as "his spouse," "his taxable year," and "his home"—with gender-neutral terms (e.g., "the individual's spouse," "the taxpayer's spouse," "the employee's spouse," "the individual's taxable year," and "the individual's home"). These changes apply across tax rules for income tax rates (IRC §1), filing status (§2), dependent care (§21), credits (§§36, 36B), deductions (§§179, 213, 217), exclusions (§§119, 911), partnerships (§704), trusts (§§507, 672), retirement plans (§§408, 415), and others (e.g., §§318, 469, 613A, 7703).