Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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The IRS penalty break that erases a first late filing is being replaced by an automatic one
The IRS is retiring one of its best-known taxpayer favors. First Time Abate, the penalty waiver that has let millions of otherwise compliant filers erase a single late-filing or late-payment penalty just by asking, is being phased out in favor of a process that requires no request at all. The change affects anyone who has…
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A husband or wife who is not an American citizen can receive $194,000 in gifts this year before any gift tax applies
Married couples can generally give each other unlimited amounts of money or property without triggering federal gift tax, thanks to what’s called the unlimited marital deduction. That rule doesn’t apply, though, when one spouse isn’t a U.S. citizen. Instead, the IRS caps how much a citizen or resident spouse can give a noncitizen spouse tax-free…
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The top federal rate of 37 percent starts at $640,600 for a single filer and $768,700 for a married couple
The IRS has finalized the income tax brackets that will apply to money earned in 2026, and the headline number is where the top rate kicks in. A single filer’s income above $640,600, and a married couple’s income above $768,700, is taxed at 37 percent — the highest of the seven marginal rates in the…
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The alternative minimum tax exemption is $90,100 for a single filer this year and starts disappearing above $500,000
Every fall, the IRS quietly updates dozens of tax thresholds for inflation, and buried in that list is the exemption amount for the alternative minimum tax — a second, parallel calculation that some taxpayers have to run alongside their regular return. For tax year 2026, the agency has locked in new numbers for both the…
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A drug maker building American plants pays 20 percent instead, and one that signed a pricing deal pays nothing until 2029
Two companies importing the same category of medicine can end up owing wildly different amounts at the border, and the difference isn’t luck. A pharmaceutical tariff signed in April carved out two separate escape routes from its steepest rate, and drug manufacturers have spent the months since deciding which one, if either, to take. One…
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Veterans’ disability claims are moving 46 percent faster than in January 2025, and the backlog is down more than 70 percent
The Department of Veterans Affairs says the average time it takes to process a disability compensation claim has fallen 46 percent since January 20, 2025, and the backlog of veterans waiting on decisions is down more than 70 percent over the same stretch. VA released both figures in a September 1, 2026 press release that…
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The Medicaid rule would scrap an alternative test that lets states tax hospitals past the usual 6 percent limit
A second piece of the same Medicaid financing overhaul targets a technical rule that has quietly let some states tax hospitals more heavily than the usual federal limit allows. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants to eliminate what regulators call the 75/75 test, an alternative path that can let a provider tax exceeding…
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Colorado has approved none of next year’s requested health increases yet
Colorado insurance companies filed for a weighted average 13.4 percent premium increase on individual health plans for 2027, with one carrier asking for as much as 23.9 percent. None of those numbers are prices yet. As of today, the Colorado Division of Insurance has not approved a single one of next year’s requested individual-market rate…
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Colorado insurers want 13.4 percent more for individual health plans next year, and one carrier asked for 23.9 percent
Colorado’s insurance regulator released preliminary 2027 premium filings from health insurers in late July, and buried in that filing data is a bigger number than the one the state highlighted in its own headline. Insurers filed for a weighted average request of 13.4 percent more across Colorado’s individual market for next year, with one carrier’s…
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A lab reported skin cancer results after its own control samples fell out of range
When a lab runs a genetic test, it isn’t just testing the patient’s sample. Built into every test run is a “control” sample with a known, expected result, run alongside the real one specifically to prove the equipment and chemistry are working correctly that day. According to the Justice Department, a California skin-testing company reported…