Category: Taxes Made Simple
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Americans 65 and older get an extra $6,000 deduction on their 2026 tax return
Older taxpayers have a new break this year, and it is one of the simpler ones to use. Anyone 65 and older gets an extra $6,000 deduction — $12,000 for a married couple where both spouses qualify — on top of the standard deduction. It lowers taxable income whether or not you itemize, and for…
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You can now deduct up to $10,000 of car-loan interest on your 2026 tax return
Car-loan interest has been a dead end at tax time for decades — a real cost with no deduction behind it. That changes for recent buyers of certain new vehicles. A new tax break lets you write off up to $10,000 a year in interest on a loan for a qualifying vehicle, and unlike most…
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The 2026 estate and gift tax exemption is now $15 million, or $30 million per couple
For most families, the federal estate tax has always been someone else’s problem, and a change taking effect this year makes that even truer. The amount a person can pass on free of federal estate and gift tax rose to $15 million for 2026, or $30 million for a married couple. Just as important as…
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New rules let workers deduct up to $25,000 in tips and $12,500 in overtime pay
Two of the most talked-about tax changes of the past year are now real, filed on a new form, and aimed squarely at people who work for tips or clock overtime. Eligible workers can deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tips and up to $12,500 in overtime pay from their taxable income. The catch is…
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Employers could put $2,500 a year, tax-free, into the Trump Account of a worker’s child under proposed rules
Think of the list your employer hands you at open enrollment. Health plan, dental, vision, the 401(k) match, maybe a dependent care account and a commuter benefit. Treasury and the IRS have put out proposed regulations that would add another optional line to that menu: a contribution of up to $2,500 a year, excluded from…
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The IRS is dropping the paperwork for first-time penalty relief and applying it automatically
For years, the way an otherwise punctual taxpayer got out of a late-filing penalty was to write a letter. You called the number on the notice, or you mailed a written statement or a Form 843, and you asked the IRS to look at your record and take the penalty back off. The penalty was…
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Self-employed and gig workers owe their next estimated tax payment by September 15
For anyone whose income arrives without taxes already taken out, the IRS expects to be paid as you go, not just at filing time. That means a quarterly estimated tax payment, and the third-quarter deadline for 2026 lands on September 15. Freelancers, gig drivers, independent contractors, small-business owners, and retirees living on investment or retirement…
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Storm victims near the San Carlos Apache Tribe have until September 28 to file, penalty-free
When a disaster upends a household, a looming tax deadline is the last thing anyone should have to juggle. The IRS agrees, and for people in the San Carlos Apache Tribe area of Arizona hit by severe storms and flooding, it has pushed a stack of federal filing and payment deadlines out to September 28,…
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Overtime pay is now deductible up to $12,500 on your 2026 taxes
If you work overtime, part of that extra pay can now come off your taxable income. Under the same law that created the tip deduction, workers can deduct qualified overtime pay on their 2026 federal return, up to $12,500 for a single filer or $25,000 for a married couple filing jointly. It is a real…
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Workers who earn tips can deduct up to $25,000 on their 2026 taxes under the new law
For servers, bartenders, hairstylists, and drivers, tips have always been fully taxable income, right down to the last dollar reported. A new federal deduction changes the math. Under the law commonly called the One Big Beautiful Bill, workers in tipped jobs can deduct up to $25,000 of qualified tips on their 2026 federal return, which…
