The financial news that actually matters
In 2014, a licensed firearms dealer in Wisconsin discovered his bank account had been closed with 30 days’ notice and no meaningful explanation. He was not accused of fraud, money laundering, or any legal violation. His business simply fell into a category that federal examiners considered a “reputation risk” for the bank. Variations of that…
A single parent earning $20,000 a year and raising two children will see roughly $2,625 in refundable Child Tax Credit payments when filing a 2025 return. That money arrives as a direct deposit or paper check even if the parent owes zero federal income tax. The scenario became possible under permanent law on July 4,…
A server at a Chicago restaurant rings up a $100 dinner tab. The customer leaves a $25 tip on a credit card, and the bill includes $10.25 in sales tax. Under a new Illinois law taking effect July 1, 2026, the restaurant’s card-processing fee should be calculated on the $64.75 food-and-drink total alone, not the…
A software engineer in San Francisco earning $170,000 cannot contribute directly to a Roth IRA in 2026. Neither can a dual-income couple in Dallas pulling in $260,000 combined. The IRS has drawn the lines: the Roth IRA income phase-out begins at $153,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers and $242,000 for married couples…
A taxpayer whose 2025 return showed $80,000 in total federal tax can make the IRS underpayment penalty vanish for 2026 by doing one thing: paying at least $88,000 through withholding and estimated payments over the course of the year. If the actual 2026 tax bill lands at $200,000, the $112,000 shortfall triggers no penalty at…
Congress has doubled the reporting threshold for 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms from $600 to $2,000, and the change is already law. Starting with payments made during the 2026 calendar year, businesses will no longer be required to file a 1099 for a contractor unless they pay that person at least $2,000. For the millions of…
A borrower with a 610 credit score walking into a mortgage lender’s office last month would have hit the same wall that has stood since the mid-2000s: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would not purchase a loan with a representative FICO below 620, so most lenders would not write one. As of April 22, 2026,…
About 16 million Americans filed Schedule SE with their federal tax returns in recent years, according to IRS Statistics of Income data. Every one of them confronted the same math: because no employer exists to split the payroll tax bill, freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors, and sole proprietors owe the full 15.3% self-employment tax on…
A taxpayer who e-filed a federal return on January 27 and chose direct deposit could have seen the money in a bank account by Valentine’s Day. A taxpayer who dropped a paper return in the mail the same week might still be waiting in late March. That gap is not a glitch. It is the…
For the past eight years, roughly nine out of ten federal tax filers have gotten exactly zero tax benefit from their charitable donations. The reason was simple math: the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction, which made itemizing pointless for most households. You could write a $500 check to your…