Category: Taxes Made Simple
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Utah homeowners 67 and older can claim up to $1,412 by September 1
Most property tax breaks pay the same amount to everyone who qualifies. Utah’s circuit breaker does not. The benefit is read off a bracket table, so the credit a household receives is decided entirely by where last year’s income landed, and the distance between the top bracket and the bottom one is the distance between…
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If your employer leaves overtime out of one W-2 box, you cannot claim the $12,500 deduction
A worker who logged overtime in 2025 could reconstruct the number without any help from the payroll department. Pay stubs, a calendar and a little arithmetic were enough, and the figure went on the tax return whether or not it showed up anywhere on the W-2. That option is gone for 2026. The number now…
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Maryland renters 60 and older can claim up to $1,000 by October 1
Maryland renters who are 60 or older, and renters of any age who are 100% disabled, can apply this year for a state payment worth as much as $1,000. It is not a discount buried in a tax bill: the Renters’ Tax Credit arrives as a direct check from the State of Maryland. The catch…
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A new IRS process erases some late penalties automatically after three clean years
For as long as most taxpayers can remember, getting the IRS to forgive a late-filing or late-payment penalty meant asking for it: a phone call, a written statement, or a formal abatement request, followed by waiting to hear back. Starting this summer, for people and businesses with a clean recent record, that entire ritual disappears.…
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The dependent care FSA limit rises from $5,000 to $7,500 in 2026
Sometime this fall, a benefits portal will ask working families a deceptively small question: how much of next year’s pay should be set aside, before taxes, for the care that makes working possible? For years the ceiling on that answer barely moved; for 2026, it jumped by half. The account is the dependent care flexible…
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63 storm-hit counties now have until November 2, and some victims can tap retirement savings penalty-free
Sixty-three counties across three states are running on a different federal tax calendar than the rest of the country this year. After severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding swept through parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Mississippi this spring, the IRS announced on July 13 that a long list of federal filing and payment deadlines in those…
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About four million tax filers got IRS notices over missing or incorrect direct-deposit details
A change meant to move federal refunds away from paper checks created a new layer of tax-season friction. By April 27, the IRS had sent about four million notices for returns with missing or incorrect direct-deposit information, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2026 mid-year report. Some filers then faced confusing online waiver steps and…
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Timely IRS payment plans can keep tax debt above $66,000 from passport certification
A large federal tax balance does not automatically trigger passport trouble. For 2026, the IRS threshold for seriously delinquent tax debt is more than $66,000, and debt being paid on time through an approved installment agreement is excluded from certification to the State Department. The protection depends on a real approved arrangement that remains current,…
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Money deposited after an IRS bank levy usually escapes the 21-day freeze
An IRS levy arriving at a bank creates a snapshot of the account at a specific date and time. The bank freezes money present when it receives the levy and waits 21 days before sending covered funds to the government, while deposits added afterward are normally outside that levy. The word “normally” matters: a later…
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After-school care may earn a tax credit even when private kindergarten tuition does not
A single school bill can contain two tax treatments. Charges for before- or after-school supervision may qualify for the child and dependent care credit when the care lets a parent work or look for work, while private kindergarten tuition is treated as education and does not qualify. Separating the invoice can preserve an eligible care…