Category: Taxes Made Simple
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Overseas packages worth up to $2,500 would need a customs filing before they land, and mail left unentered for 15 days would count as abandoned, under a CBP proposal
Customs and Border Protection has proposed that overseas packages worth $2,500 or less would need an electronic customs filing on or before arrival, and that mail left unentered for 15 days would count as abandoned. The agency published the proposal as a rule in the Federal Register on Oct. 8. It is a proposal, and…
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Immigration fees set by Trump’s tax law rise Oct. 16, with parole going to $1,050 and initial asylum work permits to $570, and filings with the old fee will be rejected
Several immigration fees set by the 2025 tax-and-spending law, known as H.R. 1, go up on Oct. 16. The parole fee rises from $1,020 to $1,050, and the fee for a first work permit for an asylum applicant rises from $560 to $570. Any request postmarked on or after Oct. 16 without the proper fee…
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IRS automatic penalty relief is replacing First Time Abate starting with 2025 tax-year returns, but tax and interest remain due
The IRS has started replacing First Time Abate, its long-standing request-based penalty waiver, with an automatic one. Taxpayers with a clean three-year filing and payment record are no longer asked to call or write: the agency applies the relief itself and sends a notice saying so. The tax and the interest on it are still…
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Workers’ 2026 W-2 forms, due by Feb. 1, 2027, must show reported tips and qualified overtime under new box 12 codes TP and TT
The 2026 Form W-2 adds two new codes in box 12: TP for tips and TT for overtime. Employers have to hand workers their 2026 W-2s by Feb. 1, 2027, and file them with the Social Security Administration the same day, so the first forms that separate out tips and qualified overtime reach workers early…
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Treasury estimates about 96 percent of children in participating states, 30 so far, could qualify for the new tax-credit scholarships when the credit launches Jan. 1
Treasury and the IRS say about 96 percent of children in participating states would be eligible to receive scholarship money funded by a new federal tax credit. The estimate comes from an Oct. 1 announcement, IR-2026-117, which also set out how the credit works: up to $1,700 for an individual, up to $3,400 for a…
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Trump’s Oct. 5 diesel order gave Treasury five days to decide whether federal diesel excise taxes from Oct. 5 to Dec. 31 can be deferred without penalties or interest
President Trump signed an executive order Oct. 5 that gives the Treasury Secretary five days to decide whether the government can let businesses put off federal diesel excise taxes for the rest of 2026. As of Oct. 8, neither the IRS nor Treasury has announced that decision. The five days in the order run out…
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Treasury’s temporary rules for the new federal scholarship tax credit take effect Dec. 1, before contributions open Jan. 1, 2027
Treasury and the IRS have issued temporary rules for the new federal scholarship tax credit, and they take effect Dec. 1, 2026. Contributions to scholarship groups open a month later, on Jan. 1, 2027. The rules were published in the Federal Register on Oct. 2, and the regulations say they are effective on Dec. 1,…
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Storm victims in Mississippi, Wisconsin and Michigan, and typhoon victims in the Northern Mariana Islands, have until Nov. 2 to file and pay federal taxes in covered areas
Nov. 2 is the date on four separate IRS disaster notices, and it does not reach everyone in the states and territory named. Relief applies only to the counties and islands the IRS lists for each storm, and each notice starts counting from a different day. The IRS disaster relief page, last updated Sept. 16,…
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Treasury’s proposed Trump Accounts rules would enroll eligible children automatically through a master group trust, with public comments due Nov. 30
Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service want to create a Trump Account for every eligible child without the parents filling out anything first. The idea is in proposed regulations published in the Federal Register on September 30, and the government is taking public comments on them until November 30. These are proposals, not final rules.…
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An IRS hearing scheduled for Oct. 14 would weigh a Trump administration plan to limit refundable child tax credit and EITC money to citizens and qualified aliens
An IRS public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 14, 2026, on a Treasury proposal that would limit the refunded part of the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit and two other credits to U.S. citizens, nationals and qualified aliens. The proposal is not in effect. The notice in the Federal Register, published Aug.…