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.
Families holding appreciated stock face a tax fork that can cost heirs tens of thousands of dollars depending on when shares change hands. Under federal law, a lifetime gift of stock passes the donor’s original purchase price to the recipient, preserving the full embedded gain as a future tax liability. If those same shares transfer…
Illinois homeowners aged 65 and older who earn less than $75,000 per year can now lock in their home’s equalized assessed value starting with taxable year 2026, thanks to a newly signed law that raised the income ceiling by $10,000. The change, enacted through SB2746, expands eligibility for the state’s Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead…
Families with three or more children stand to receive up to $8,231 through the Earned Income Tax Credit for tax year 2026, an increase from $8,046 the prior year. The IRS announced the new figure as part of its annual inflation adjustments, which this cycle also reflect changes enacted through the One, Big, Beautiful Bill….
Older Americans filing their 2025 federal tax returns will be able to subtract an extra $6,000 from taxable income if their modified adjusted gross income stays below $75,000. Married couples where both spouses are 65 or older can claim up to $12,000, with the benefit phasing out above $150,000 in joint income. Enacted through Public…
Taxpayers who spend thousands of dollars on medical bills each year often discover that federal law blocks them from deducting any of it. Under the statute that governs the medical expense deduction, only the portion of unreimbursed costs that exceeds 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) counts toward a write-off. For a household earning…
Taxpayers who turned 65 or older will see an extra $2,050 added to their standard deduction when they file federal returns for tax year 2026, a figure the IRS locked in through its latest round of inflation adjustments. The number comes from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, published alongside broader changes shaped by the One, Big, Beautiful…
Investors who sell a stock at a loss and repurchase it within 30 days lose the tax deduction they expected to claim. The wash-sale rule, codified in federal statute as 26 U.S. Code Section 1091, blocks the write-off whenever a taxpayer buys “substantially identical” shares inside a 61-day window that spans 30 days before through…
Taxpayers in high-tax states just got their biggest federal relief in nearly a decade. The cap on state and local tax deductions has quadrupled from the $10,000 ceiling that applied under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, jumping to $40,400 for tax year 2026. The increase, enacted through P.L. 119-21, is temporary: the cap…
Taxpayers who earned more than $150,000 in adjusted gross income last year face a penalty trap that catches more filers each year: they must prepay at least 110% of their prior-year federal tax liability through withholding or estimated payments, not the standard 100%. The rule, set by federal statute and enforced through quarterly interest charges,…
Millions of single filers will subtract $16,100 from their income before a single dollar of federal tax is calculated on their 2026 returns. The figure, set by the IRS after Congress rewrote the indexing formula through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law on July 4, 2025, represents a direct increase over the…