Category: Taxes Made Simple
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Tipped workers can now deduct up to $25,000 in tips through 2028
Servers, bartenders, hairstylists, and other tipped workers have a new line on their federal tax return that did not exist a couple of years ago. Under the tax law enacted last year, eligible workers can deduct up to $25,000 of qualified tips each year, temporarily removing that income from their federal income-tax calculation. It is…
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Dozens of states offer senior property-tax freezes or rebates worth up to about $1,500 — check your state’s deadline
More than 30 states run programs that can freeze or cut property taxes for older and lower-income homeowners — and in several, the relief is worth $1,000 to $1,500 or more a year. They go by different names: property-tax freezes, homestead credits, and “circuit breaker” rebates. Each has its own income limits and, crucially, its…
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Trump’s $2,000 tariff-dividend check is still only a stalled proposal
The $2,000 “tariff dividend” check that President Trump has floated remains just a proposal, and the Senate bill that would create a version of it has stalled. No checks have gone out, no agency is sending money, and there is no application to file, because the payment does not exist. For households that have seen…
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Free IRS-backed VITA tax help is open to households under about $67,000
Households earning roughly $67,000 or less can have their tax return prepared and filed for free by IRS-certified volunteers, no software subscription and no paid preparer required. The program is called VITA, and along with a companion program for older filers, it prepares millions of returns every year at libraries, community centers, and other local…
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The child tax credit is now a permanent $2,200 per child, with up to $1,700 paid back as a refund
The child tax credit is now locked in at $2,200 per qualifying child, made permanent by the 2025 tax law, with up to $1,700 of it available as a refund even to families who owe little or no federal tax. Making the amount permanent ends years of uncertainty in which the credit’s size was set…
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People 65 and older can claim a new $6,000 bonus tax deduction on returns through 2028
Taxpayers who are 65 or older can claim a new $6,000 bonus deduction on their federal returns, a break created by the 2025 tax law that runs through 2028. It is not a check and not a credit — it lowers the income the IRS taxes, which can trim a retiree’s tax bill or even…
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Workers can now deduct up to $12,500 in overtime pay, and it will show up on your W-2
Starting with the 2026 tax year, workers who put in overtime can deduct a big slice of that extra pay when they file, and for the first time the amount will be printed right on their W-2. The deduction is worth up to $12,500 for a single filer and $25,000 for a married couple filing…
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A stalled House bill would send married couples $1,700 from tariff money
Nothing has happened to H.R. 9768 since the afternoon it was filed. The official record shows three actions, all stamped July 16, 2026: introduced in the House, introduced in the House again as the clerk logs it, and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. No hearing, no markup, no vote, and no cosponsors…
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Your $800 duty-free limit on imported packages is gone for good, a trade court ruled August 13
A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade spent thirty pages on a single question this month: whether a president who cannot impose tariffs under emergency powers can nonetheless switch off the rule that let packages worth $800 or less enter the country duty free. On August 13, 2026, the panel answered yes…
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The extra Obamacare subsidies expired, and the 2027 out-of-pocket ceiling rises to $12,000
A pair of temporary clauses stopped applying on the last day of 2025, and Congress has not written anything to take their place. The live text of the statute still carries both of them, still labeled as running only through 2025, with no later amendment attached. What replaced them is the original 2010 subsidy structure,…
