Category: Taxes Made Simple
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The $10,000 car-loan interest deduction excludes leases and vehicles first used by someone else
A new federal deduction can make interest on some personal vehicle loans deductible, but two common ways of getting a car fail immediately: leasing it and buying it after someone else already used it. The annual maximum is $10,000 of eligible interest, not $10,000 off the tax bill. Vehicle history, loan date, assembly location and…
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An IRS CP53E notice can delay your refund until you update bank details online
A CP53E letter means the IRS has reached a refund problem that cannot be solved by giving bank numbers to a telephone representative. The notice gives the taxpayer 30 days to respond through an Individual Online Account or explain why electronic payment is not possible. Until that step is handled, money a household expected can…
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The $12,500 overtime deduction covers only the pay above your regular rate
“No tax on overtime” sounds broader than the federal deduction actually is. The tax break does not generally erase tax on every dollar earned during an overtime hour. It applies to qualified overtime compensation above the worker’s regular rate, subject to annual limits, income phaseouts and other rules. Time-and-a-half shows the split The IRS’s current…
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Four Louisiana parishes now have until November 2 to file, and storm victims can tap retirement savings penalty-free
IRS relief for Tropical Storm Arthur moves deadlines to November 2, 2026 for Avoyelles, St. Landry, St. Tammany and Terrebonne parishes, and opens a penalty-free disaster distribution.
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The IRS raised the business mileage deduction to 76 cents in the middle of the year
IRS Announcement 2026-11 raised the business standard mileage rate to 76 cents and the medical and moving rate to 23.5 cents for travel on or after July 1, 2026.
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IRS Free File is open to households under $89,000 through October 15
Somewhere in a filing cabinet or a browser tab sits a 2025 federal return that was started in April and never finished. The household filed for more time, the deadline stopped feeling urgent, and the paperwork went quiet. What a lot of those filers have not been told is that the free federal filing software…
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September 15 is the next estimated tax deadline for retirees and self-employed filers who expect to owe $1,000
The federal tax calendar has one more date on it before the year runs out, and it lands on Tuesday, September 15. That is the deadline for the third estimated tax payment of 2026, and it is the one that catches people who do not think of themselves as taxpayers with deadlines at all: a…
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The IRS is retiring First Time Abate for automatic penalty relief, so eligible filers no longer have to ask
On July 8 the IRS announced that it is retiring its most widely used penalty waiver and replacing it with a process that grants the same relief before a penalty is ever charged. The old program required a taxpayer to know the relief existed and to ask for it. The replacement, called the Automatic Exemption…
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Michigan renters and homeowners have until September 30 to claim the home heating credit, and a tax extension will not help
The window to claim Michigan’s 2025 home heating credit closes on September 30, 2026, and it closes on postmarks rather than intentions. A claim that leaves the house on October 1 is late no matter how good the reason. That single date governs a benefit that reaches renters as well as homeowners, and it does…
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Minnesota is adding nearly 15% to 2025 homestead refunds, and homeowners who already filed do not need to do anything
The Minnesota Department of Revenue is applying a one-time boost to 2025 Homestead Credit Refunds from inside its own processing system, which means the money reaches most homeowners without a form, a request, or a phone call. A return that is already on file gets recalculated on the state’s side, and the larger refund goes…