Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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The Veterans’ Compensation COLA Act has sat in a Senate committee since May 11
The Senate has done one thing with the veterans’ cost-of-living bill since it arrived: send it to a committee. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, introduced the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026, S. 4487, on May 11, and it was read twice and referred to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. No hearing, markup…
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El Dorado County energy aid takes a single person earning up to $3,331.67 a month
A single person in El Dorado County can have gross income of up to $3,331.67 a month and still apply for help with energy bills. That is the one-person limit in the county’s 2026 income table, and El Dorado County Health and Human Services says its Home Energy Assistance Program is accepting applications now. The…
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The FTC never asks for money to release a refund it owes someone
Every refund the Federal Trade Commission sends to consumers comes with one fixed rule: the person receiving the money pays nothing to get it. The agency says it will never tell anyone to transfer money in order to “get a refund,” and it never asks for upfront fees. That rule matters because FTC refunds are…
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A federal court shut down a debt-relief operation that targeted seniors and veterans
A federal court in Arizona has permanently shut down Accelerated Debt Settlement, a debt-relief operation that the Federal Trade Commission says went after seniors and veterans by posing as banks, credit card companies and government agencies. The FTC announced the result on October 22. The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona entered a…
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Treasury and the IRS announced an IRA correction program on October 22
Treasury and the IRS announced a new way to fix certain IRA mistakes on October 22, 2026. The program, called the IRA Compliance Resolution System, is set out in Revenue Procedure 2026-33, and it does not take requests until May 1, 2027. The system gives custodians and owners a formal way to ask the IRS…
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Pennsylvania food-stamp benefits went up this month under the annual adjustment
Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services says food-stamp benefit amounts rose on October 1 and that no recipient will see a decrease. The department’s release puts the average increase for most recipients at $18. The new amounts follow the annual cost-of-living adjustment from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and run through September 30, 2027. The department…
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Social Security’s inspector general says people 70 and older lose more money per scam than those under 70, and neither Social Security nor its inspector general ever asks for cash, crypto or secrecy
Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General says people 70 and older lose more money per scam than victims under 70. The finding comes from Issue 20 of the office’s quarterly scam report, which covers April 1 through June 30, 2026, the third quarter of the federal fiscal year. The measure is the average loss…
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Social Security showed no evidence of sending an overpayment notice at all in 8 of the 58 cases its inspector general found out of compliance in a 126-notice sample
Social Security’s inspector general pulled 126 overpayment notices and found that 58 of them did not meet the agency’s own rules. In 8 of those 58 cases, the auditors found no evidence that Social Security had issued a notice to the person who owed the money at all. What the auditors checked The review came…
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The IRS starts phasing out the new deduction for tips once a couple’s income passes $300,000, and the overtime deduction phases out at the same point
A married couple with income above $300,000 starts to lose the new federal deductions for tips and for overtime pay. The IRS says both deductions phase out at the same line: modified adjusted gross income over $300,000 for joint filers, and over $150,000 for taxpayers who do not file jointly. Below that line, the deductions…
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Food stamps already cannot buy soda or sweetened drinks in Indiana, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Arkansas, where purchase limits are running now
Eight states have already passed the dates USDA listed for limits on what food stamps can buy, and SNAP shoppers there are living under those rules now. The states are Indiana, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Arkansas. Every one restricts a soda, soft drink or sweetened drink, and seven of the eight add…