Category: Taxes and Retirement

[Update] - With the multi-round Coronavirus stimulus relief payments being paid out based on past year(s) tax return data (or SSI payment data), there has been a spike in emails, text and telephone scams where criminals are purporting to be from the IRS or Treasury asking for you to provide…

[Latest Update] In addition to the FFCRA act, Congress has now passed a much larger fiscal stimulus bill (the third one) aimed at addressing the rapidly deteriorating jobs and economic situation as the Coronavirus related shutdown continues. The new stimulus package is nearly $2 Trillion (that's right, 12 zeros!) and…

With the Coronavirus shutting down several public institutions and forcing teleworking for millions of government employees, the IRS has announced, under the national emergency provision to tackle the Coronavirus, that they will postpone the April 15 tax-payment deadline by 90 additional days. This will affect and likely help millions of…

Per Trump's order (see below) to suspend employee payroll taxes for 2020 and defer them to 2021, many eligible workers will enjoy a temporary boost to their paychecks in 2020. See this article for more details on how this is implemented per IRS guideline. The employee payroll tax break is equivalent…

2020 Coronavirus Tax Refund Delays (This is a live article that is updated regularly) As the Coronavirus impact widens we are already seeing major hits to the real economy that will take the US into a recession in 2020 and into 2021. While stock markets are falling rapidly (don’t panic…

The title of this article sums up a theme from irate tax payers who complain that people should be annoyed when they receive a tax refund, not happy! The premise behind this is that a refund is basically the IRS giving you back your money that you "loaned" the IRS…

5 reasons your tax refund will be delayed

As the IRS notes, 9 out of 10 filers get their refund within 21 days of an accepted e-filed return. But that also means roughly 1 in 10 filers — over 15 million people in a typical season — wait longer than that. If you're past 21 days (or 6…

Technology and Tax Software were supposed to have made tax filing more efficient and refunds (where applicable) faster. But thanks to the slew of tax changes from Trumps' tax code reforms and recent IRS employee cutbacks the software developers at the state and federal tax agencies and at tax software…

Get the latest information on IRS refund processing and direct deposit schedules in this updated article.  You can also see these articles for determining your IRS Cycle/Batch code and estimated deposit date via your official IRS tax transcript. The IRS expects more than 70% of taxpayers to get tax refunds…

The now passed GOP/Trump tax bill contains a little known but important $500 credit for non-child dependents - e.g elderly or disabled dependents or children over 17. This credit is to provide some relief to those families who will lose the now defunct personal exemption and are not eligible for the expanded Child Tax…

Quick answer for anyone searching: the personal exemption is permanently gone. The $4,050-per-person deduction last existed on 2017 returns, was suspended by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) from 2018 through 2025, and Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) made the elimination permanent in 2025. It's not coming…

[Updated following passage of OBBB] The world of personal finance is a constant dance of numbers, rules, and ever-shifting legislation. For millions of American homeowners and high-earners, few changes have been as impactful—and as debated—as the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. Since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act…