Category: Taxes & Policy

For many homeowners, the housing boom that followed the pandemic is now showing up in a less welcome place: the property tax bill. Across major cities, newly updated assessment rolls are translating years of price appreciation into higher taxable values, and owners who once ignored the process are paying closer attention. In neighborhoods where values…

Manufacturers planning new plants or major expansions just got a tax incentive that can materially change the economics of a project. The new Section 168(n) factory tax deduction allows eligible businesses to deduct 100% of the cost of certain production buildings in the year those properties are placed in service, rather than stretching the write-off…

Families claiming the federal child tax credit for the 2025 tax year are set to see a slightly larger benefit when they file their returns, after a new tax law raised the maximum credit to $2,200 per qualifying child from $2,000. The change gives many parents a bigger tax break starting with returns filed in…

Homeowners across the country absorbed a sharp jump in property taxes after rising home values and local budget pressures fed into new assessments. In 2023, property taxes levied on single-family homes reached $363.3 billion, up 6.9% from a year earlier, while the average bill climbed to about $4,062. For many households, the increase landed at…

Adoptive families filing 2025 federal tax returns have access to a benefit that could put real cash back in their pockets, even if they owe little or no income tax. For the first time in years, part of the federal Adoption Credit is refundable, allowing eligible filers to receive up to $5,000 per child as…

A handful of popular tax deductions created by the 2025 tax law are set to expire after 2028. The breaks cover seniors, tipped workers, and employees who earn overtime. Millions of Americans who may have come to rely on them could face a bigger tax bill when they disappear. Below is a quick look at…

Tax refunds are up this filing season, but not by as much as Republicans promised after passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. IRS data through the week ending March 13 shows the average refund at $3,623, up from $3,271 at the same point last year. That $352 increase is real money for households that…

Retirees often expect their tax bill to drop once the paychecks stop. In reality, federal income taxes can eat into a fixed-income budget long after full-time work ends. For households headed by someone ages 65 to 74, average federal income taxes reached $5,404 a year in the latest data. That is money that could go…

The IRS has put inherited IRA beneficiaries back on alert, but not in the way many headlines suggest. The agency did not rewrite the rulebook for inherited retirement accounts in early 2026. What it did was signal that another round of required minimum distribution rules could start applying after a short transition period. For families…

The Internal Revenue Service has released its annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2026, updating federal income tax brackets, the standard deduction, and dozens of other tax provisions that will shape returns filed in 2027. For most households, the practical takeaway is straightforward: more income will stay in lower tax brackets before the next rate…