David Keller, Author at The Financial Wire

Modern Businesswoman Working from Home Young Female Entrepreneur Using Laptop for Freelance project

Self-employed workers pay both sides of the FICA tax — 15.3% on top of income tax — but the employer half is deductible as an adjustment before calculating adjusted gross income

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago015 mins

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…

United States 1040 tax form individual income tax return with refund check and US dollar bills

The IRS issues 90% of e-filed tax refunds within 21 days when direct deposit is on file — paper returns now average 8 weeks, with another week tacked on for each missing form

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago014 mins

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…

Woman looking at bill while using laptop

The new above-the-line charitable deduction lets non-itemizers write off up to $1,000 single / $2,000 joint in cash donations starting with the 2026 tax year — without touching the standard deduction

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago013 mins

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…

Filers earning over $1 million face an IRS audit rate of about 1 in 38 in 2026 — versus 1 in 313 for households under $200,000, the lowest audit risk on record for middle-income earners

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago013 mins

A wage earner in Dallas who reports $85,000 on a W-2 and claims the standard deduction has, statistically, almost no chance of sitting across from an IRS examiner this year. A hedge-fund partner in Greenwich pulling seven figures through a web of K-1s faces odds roughly eight times higher. That contrast, already stark, is on…

The FDIC’s new “debanking” rule takes effect in 11 days — after June 9, banks can no longer close your account because of your political views

David Keller4 months ago1 month ago015 mins

As of May 29, 2026, a joint final rule from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, and the National Credit Union Administration is 11 days from taking effect. When the FDIC released a batch of internal documents in early 2025, the letters inside confirmed what gun dealers, crypto firms, and religious…

a woman sitting at a table looking at her cell phone

Federal law gives you 10 business days to move money out of an account a bank decides to close — but the bank isn’t required to tell you why it closed it unless an adverse credit mark triggered the decision

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago014 mins

Your debit card stops working on a Tuesday. By Friday, a letter arrives: your bank is closing your account. You have 10 business days to withdraw your funds. The letter offers no explanation. When you call, the representative reads from a script that restates what the letter already said. No reason. No appeal. No next…

Aerial view of destroyed house roof and walls damaged of hurricane in Florida Natural disaster and its consequences

Hurricane season starts in 3 days — and most standard home policies pay only depreciated “actual cash value” on roofs over 10 years old, cutting claim checks by up to half

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago011 mins

A homeowner in Galveston with a 14-year-old asphalt shingle roof and a $15,000 replacement estimate could collect barely $8,000 from a standard insurance policy after a hurricane. The rest, thousands of dollars, would come out of pocket. That scenario is not hypothetical. It is how “actual cash value” roof provisions work in a growing number…

Banking problem mobile service shocked woman angry woman talking on phone worried with bank fraud

One phone call asking for a “goodwill adjustment” can erase a late-payment mark from a credit report — most major card issuers quietly approve first-time requests within 30 days

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago020 mins

A single missed credit card payment can crater a FICO score by 60 to 110 points, according to FICO’s scoring breakdown. (FICO has published research showing that range for consumers starting near 780, though the specific data set is not linked from its public education pages.) For someone sitting at 780, that kind of drop…

a large building with columns on the front of it

The OCC’s new bank fee rule takes effect in 32 days — your state can no longer cap the swipe fees banks charge on tips, sales taxes, or tipped service charges

David Keller4 months ago4 weeks ago014 mins

On June 30, 2026, a federal preemption order will strip Illinois of the power to stop nationally chartered banks from collecting swipe fees on credit card tips and sales taxes. The state’s Interchange Fee Prohibition Act was supposed to take effect one day later, on July 1. That single-day gap is not a coincidence. The…

Confused senior husband and wife paying bills on Internet

Every Roth IRA conversion triggers its own separate 5-year clock — touching converted money before that date adds a 10% penalty even for filers already over 59½

David Keller4 months ago4 months ago016 mins

A 57-year-old engineer converts $80,000 from a traditional IRA into a Roth in January 2024, planning to let it grow tax-free through retirement. Three years later, at 60, she pulls $30,000 to cover a roof replacement. She is past 59½, so she assumes the withdrawal is penalty-free. Then her tax preparer delivers the bad news:…

David Keller

Self-employed workers pay both sides of the FICA tax — 15.3% on top of income tax — but the employer half is deductible as an adjustment before calculating adjusted gross income

The IRS issues 90% of e-filed tax refunds within 21 days when direct deposit is on file — paper returns now average 8 weeks, with another week tacked on for each missing form

The new above-the-line charitable deduction lets non-itemizers write off up to $1,000 single / $2,000 joint in cash donations starting with the 2026 tax year — without touching the standard deduction

Filers earning over $1 million face an IRS audit rate of about 1 in 38 in 2026 — versus 1 in 313 for households under $200,000, the lowest audit risk on record for middle-income earners

The FDIC’s new “debanking” rule takes effect in 11 days — after June 9, banks can no longer close your account because of your political views

Federal law gives you 10 business days to move money out of an account a bank decides to close — but the bank isn’t required to tell you why it closed it unless an adverse credit mark triggered the decision

Hurricane season starts in 3 days — and most standard home policies pay only depreciated “actual cash value” on roofs over 10 years old, cutting claim checks by up to half

One phone call asking for a “goodwill adjustment” can erase a late-payment mark from a credit report — most major card issuers quietly approve first-time requests within 30 days

The OCC’s new bank fee rule takes effect in 32 days — your state can no longer cap the swipe fees banks charge on tips, sales taxes, or tipped service charges

Every Roth IRA conversion triggers its own separate 5-year clock — touching converted money before that date adds a 10% penalty even for filers already over 59½

IG

FB

PIN

LI

X