Category: Government Rebates and Payments

[Update as of July 23rd] It's time to pay for the American dream. In various discussions around how to cut the national debt, so that we don't have to keep raising the debt ceiling, one theme that is common in most plans is that Americans now and for generations to…

The IRS has officially admitted that they are having issues with processing some of the most popular economic stimulus payments that the Obama administration has handed out over the last few years. In particular, the many versions of the first time home buyer credit, each with different eligibility and income…

The AOTC allows parents and students to receive a tax credit of up to $2,500 for qualified undergraduate college expenses, based on certain income limits. The AOTC replaced the smaller Hope credit a few years ago as part of bills passed under the Obama administration (see section below for origin).…

[Updated- 2012 Payroll Tax Credit Holiday, Unemployment Benefits and Medicare Doctor Payments Extended to Dec 31st] With House Republican support Congress has passed legislation extending the federal payroll tax holiday through the end of the year without demanding spending cuts to pay for it. This was a concession aimed at…

I have made a number of updates to popular topics on this site and in case you missed them, here is a quick recap with a link to the detailed information. 2011 Tax Rates and Brackets Following Bush-era Tax Cut Extensions With approval of a two-year extension to all the…

[Update] - As part of the 2018 Trump tax reform package there is a big push to get the Estate tax fully repealed or raise existing exemption levels. Provisions around this are being debated in Congress and you can get the latest updates in this article. ______ A change to the…

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) is $2,200 per qualifying child for the 2026 tax year, following the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) signed in 2025. That $200 increase from the prior $2,000 level is now locked in permanently and indexed for inflation going forward. For most families, not much has…

As part of bush-era tax cuts extension legislation (Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010), a number of new tax breaks were made available. One was a temporary one year cut in employee payroll taxes, which funds Social Security and Medicare, of 2% during 2011. The…

[Update - No New Taxes with Tax Extensions Approved] President Obama has now signed into law a bill that covers a temporary extension of all the bush-era tax cuts. The new bill also contains extensions to some of the 2008 stimulus tax breaks, and even has some new tax cuts. With…

To tackle America’s growing national debt problem, President Obama put together a task force earlier this year to look at options on how to cut government spending, implement tax reform and improve the effectiveness of federal entitlement programs. The deficit reduction commission co-chairs (Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson) put forward…

Mortgage interest rates are at their lowest point in decades (about 4.5%) and the housing credit has been in effect for more than three years, yet the housing market is tepid at best, with foreclosures at record highs and government housing institutions having to put more distressed assets on their…

A $26 billion state aid package was approved by Congress (and will be signed by the President) that saves thousands of state teaching and government worker jobs. The package provides $16.1 billion to extend (for six months) Medicaid funding for states, known as FMAP. The measure also provides $10 billion…

While not as generous as in previous years, there are several energy efficient tax credits and breaks available for 2022, which can be claimed when filing returns in 2023. This includes the residential energy efficient property credit, which allows for a credit equal to the applicable percent of the cost…