The financial news that actually matters
Covers tax laws, government policies, fiscal changes, and financial regulations. It explains how policy decisions affect personal income, businesses, and the economy.
Buyers who finance a car assembled in the United States can now write off up to $10,000 a year in loan interest on their federal tax returns, whether they itemize deductions or claim the standard deduction. The Treasury Department and the IRS issued proposed regulations for the new break, which was enacted as part of…
Older taxpayers filing 2026 returns stand to combine two separate tax breaks that, together, could cut taxable income by as much as $8,050. The first is the inflation-adjusted additional standard deduction of $2,050 for filers aged 65 and older under IRC Section 63(f). The second is the newer $6,000 enhanced senior deduction, which can be…
Millions of homeowners in high-tax states can now deduct up to $40,000 in state and local taxes on their federal returns, four times the $10,000 ceiling that had been in place since 2017. The change took effect for tax year 2025 under Public Law 119-21, the reconciliation law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill…
Americans age 65 and older gained access to a $6,000 income deduction for Tax Year 2025, but claiming it requires a brand-new IRS form that did not exist before this filing season. The deduction, created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law as Public Law 119-21, stacks on top of the existing…
Farmers insurance agents have agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle claims that they placed telemarketing calls to people who had registered on the National Do Not Call Registry or who had asked the company to stop calling. The deadline for affected consumers to file a claim is September 14. The settlement puts a dollar…
Most Americans who file a federal tax return will never hear from an IRS examiner. For filers with total positive income below $200,000, the odds of an audit are roughly one in 1,000. Cross the $500,000 threshold, and the rate jumps to about one in 30. That gap, documented across multiple federal oversight reports, reflects…
Anyone who opens a checking account to collect a $3,000 bonus will find that the bank treats the payment as interest income and files a Form 1099-INT with the IRS. The bonus is not a gift in the casual sense. It is taxable, it is reported, and it can catch account holders off guard when…
Thousands of small importers that already won approval for refunds on tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court still have not received a dollar, even as the federal government has disbursed roughly $86 billion to other claimants. Of the 8,384 approved refund claims sitting unpaid, a disproportionate share belong to smaller firms that lack the…
Investors who sold stocks, funds, or other assets at a loss during 2025 can subtract up to $3,000 of those net losses from ordinary income on their federal tax return, with any leftover amount rolling into future years until it is fully used. The rule, set by federal statute and enforced by the IRS, applies…
Investors holding state and local government debt receive interest payments that bypass federal income tax entirely, a benefit written directly into the Internal Revenue Code. That single provision shapes how cities, counties, and states borrow tens of billions of dollars each year, and it determines whether individual bondholders keep more of their returns or share…