Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Congress’s stopgap funds the government through December 11, averting an October 1 shutdown
A stopgap spending bill signed into law this month kept the federal government open past the October 1 deadline that would otherwise have triggered a shutdown. The measure, a continuing resolution rather than a full-year budget, extends current funding levels only through December 11, which means the same cliff households watched approach this fall is…
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The IRS extended drought tax relief for farmers and ranchers who sold livestock in 49 states
Farmers and ranchers who sold cattle or other breeding, dairy or draft livestock because of drought conditions now have extra time before they have to pay federal tax on that sale. The Internal Revenue Service announced on September 15 that its drought-related livestock tax relief now covers 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico…
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The IRS replaced its IRS2Go app with one that shows refund status, balances and identity-protection PINs
IRS2Go, the Internal Revenue Service’s mobile app for more than a decade, no longer exists as a standalone product. The agency retired it this week and replaced it with a new app that gives taxpayers a mobile window into their refund and amended-return status, their account balance, recent payments, digital notices, tax transcripts and their…
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Only 4 of 114 identity-theft cases auditors sampled met the IRS’s 120-day target, and the average took 655 days
Auditors at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration pulled 114 identity-theft case files from the IRS and found that only 4 of them closed within the agency’s own 120-day target, with the sample as a whole averaging 655 days from start to finish. The finding, published September 21, offers one of the clearest looks…
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The IRS paid about $124.2 million in refund interest on identity-theft cases closed over three fiscal years
The Internal Revenue Service paid about $124.2 million in interest to identity-theft victims whose refunds sat frozen while their cases worked through the agency’s system, according to a federal audit covering three fiscal years. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration published the figure on September 21, drawing it directly from cases the IRS itself…
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Alaskans who chose a paper check get their $1,200 dividend October 22, three weeks after direct deposits
Alaskans who selected a paper check for their 2026 Permanent Fund Dividend receive the same $1,200 payment as everyone else, but three weeks later than residents who chose direct deposit. The state agency that runs the dividend program mails paper checks starting October 22, 2026, while the first direct deposits went out three weeks earlier,…
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Alaska’s 2026 dividend is $1,200 with $200 in energy relief, and the first direct deposits land October 1
Alaska’s 2026 Permanent Fund Dividend will pay eligible residents $1,200, a total that folds in a $200 energy relief payment alongside the traditional dividend amount. The first payments go out October 1, 2026, to residents who applied online and chose direct deposit. The figure and the date both come from the state agency that administers…
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Nevada’s food stamp purchase limits do not start until February 2028
Nevada sits at the far end of a federal calendar that is already narrowing what food stamp benefits can buy in other states. While Ohio, Montana, South Carolina and Virginia are all adjusting their SNAP purchase rules this fall, Nevada’s own approved waiver does not take effect until February 2028, more than a year behind…
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Kansas and Missouri food stamp limits start February 15, and Hawaii’s begin April 1
Kansas and Missouri will not restrict what food stamp benefits can buy until February 15, 2027, a date more than a year further out than restrictions already scheduled this fall in other states. Hawaii follows six weeks later, on April 1, 2027. Both dates come from the same federal program that is already narrowing SNAP…
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Medicare’s negotiated price for the antipsychotic Vraylar drops to $770 from $1,376 on January 1
Roughly 116,000 people with Medicare rely on the antipsychotic Vraylar to manage conditions that range from bipolar disorder to schizophrenia, and every one of them is about to see the government’s own price for that drug drop by nearly half. On January 1, the maximum fair price CMS negotiated for Vraylar takes effect, cutting the…