Category: Taxes Made Simple
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The IRS child tax credit can cut a working family’s tax bill by thousands
For families raising kids, the child tax credit is one of the most valuable lines on a tax return, and because part of it is refundable, it can put money back in a household’s pocket even when little or no tax is owed. Used correctly, it reduces a family’s tax bill by thousands of dollars,…
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Taxpayers 65 and older get a larger standard deduction that many forget to take
One of the simplest tax breaks in the code is also one of the easiest to miss: people 65 and older get a bigger standard deduction. It requires no itemizing, no receipts, and no special form, just checking a box for age. Yet older filers who prepare their own returns sometimes overlook it and pay…
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The IRS lets most households file free through Direct File and in-person VITA help
Millions of households pay for tax preparation they could get for free. The IRS and its partners offer several no-cost ways to file, from the government’s own online Direct File tool to volunteer sites that prepare returns in person. For a family expecting a modest refund, skipping the preparation fee can mean keeping an extra…
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Workers can deduct up to $12,500 of overtime pay for 2026, now reported on the W-2
Workers who log long hours have a tax break coming, and starting with 2026 the amount will be printed right on the W-2. Eligible workers can deduct up to $12,500 of qualified overtime, or up to $25,000 for married couples filing jointly, when they file their federal return. It is real money for people who…
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The $6,000 senior deduction Trump signed fades above $75,000 and disappears after 2028
A new tax break for older Americans has been widely, and wrongly, described as the end of taxes on Social Security. What the law actually created is narrower: a temporary $6,000 deduction for people 65 and older that starts shrinking once income passes $75,000 and expires entirely after 2028. Understanding the real shape of it…
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A new rule lets the IRS withhold 24% of payments when a taxpayer ID is missing
A tax rule that most households have never heard of can take nearly a quarter of a payment before it ever reaches a bank account. It is called backup withholding, and it kicks in when the government cannot match a payment to a correct taxpayer identification number. The mechanism itself is decades old, but a…
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Extended 2025 tax returns are due October 15, with interest already running since April
Roughly one in ten taxpayers asks for extra time to file, and for those who requested a 2025 extension, the real deadline is now close: October 15, 2026. What trips people up is a detail the extension paperwork does not shout about. An extension buys more time to file the return, but it never bought…
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The next estimated-tax payment is due September 15, and skipping it can bring an IRS penalty even with a refund coming
The third of four federal estimated-tax payments for 2026 lands on September 15, and for millions of people whose income does not have taxes taken out automatically, it is a date worth circling. The surprise that catches many households is that the Internal Revenue Service can charge a penalty for missing or shorting these payments…
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Workers must claim the new tips, overtime and car-loan write-offs on a new IRS form or lose them
Several of the headline tax breaks from the 2025 tax law — no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, the car-loan interest deduction, and a bigger deduction for seniors — do not apply themselves. To get any of them, a taxpayer has to fill out a brand-new IRS form and attach it to their…
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The 1099-K tax-form threshold is back up to $20,000, sparing casual online sellers
For the millions of people who sell a few things online or get paid through an app, the threshold that triggers a tax form landing in the mailbox just moved back up — a lot. Under the tax law enacted in 2025, payment platforms only have to send you a Form 1099-K when your payments…