Category: Taxes and Retirement

The 2026 tax season is officially in the books — the IRS began accepting 2025 returns on January 26, 2026, and the April 15 filing deadline has passed. If you filed on time (or on extension), you're done until next year. We now look ahead to the 2027 tax season…

Remote work didn't just change where people do their jobs — it created a genuinely more complicated tax picture for millions of workers who now live in a different state (or country) than their employer. Here's what actually matters when you file. Which State Actually Taxes Your Income? When you…

This post started with my own Avis rental years ago, where the final bill came in noticeably higher than the quote — charges I only discovered after returning the car. The dollar amount wasn't huge; the way it was disclosed felt deliberately buried. Judging by the comments this post has…

Every filing season I hear from readers who call the IRS after weeks of waiting, only to learn their refund has been frozen because they never responded to a letter — a letter they never actually received. The IRS considers the clock started the day the notice was mailed, whether…

The federal minimum benefit for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is $24 a month for a one- or two-person household in fiscal year 2026, which runs from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. That's up $1 from the $23 minimum that held steady for the previous three years,…

Seeing "Your tax return has not yet been processed" on the IRS's Where's My Refund (WMR) tool is unsettling, but it's also one of the most common status messages during filing season. It simply means the IRS hasn't finished working through your return yet — not that something is wrong.…

Code 846 is the line on your IRS transcript that actually confirms your refund — not the "processing date" near the top, which is just the IRS's internal estimate of its next update on your account. That distinction matters most if you're waiting on a refund that includes the Earned…

Transaction codes are used on IRS tax transcripts to show filers what has happened with their return processing, reasons for potential delays, when a refund will be paid, or why it's delayed. Given ongoing challenges getting through to a live IRS agent, many taxpayers turn to their free IRS transcript…

Under the broader umbrella of USDA nutrition assistance programs sits a smaller, less-known one: the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which helps roughly 600,000 low-income seniors a year supplement their diets with free groceries. Unlike SNAP, which provides a monthly benefit card to spend at grocery stores, CSFP works differently:…

Your refund finally hits "Refund Sent" on WMR or IRS2Go, code 846 shows up on your transcript with a payment date — and then the deposit lands smaller than the refund you filed for. No warning, no explanation on the payment itself. This surprises thousands of filers every season. Here's…

An Offer in Compromise (OIC) is an IRS program that lets you settle tax debt for less than the full amount owed — but it's not a shortcut for people who simply don't want to pay. The IRS only accepts offers that reflect what it believes it could realistically collect…

Filing early to get your refund sooner is smart, but it comes with a real risk: missing a late W-2 or 1099 that arrives after you've already submitted your return. That mismatch can feel like it's guaranteed to trigger a flag or refund delay — but that's not always true.…

Schedule C is the form that reports income and expenses from a business you run as a sole proprietor or single-member LLC — think freelancing, consulting, an Etsy shop, or any other side hustle where you're not formally incorporated or partnered with someone else. If your business is structured as…