Retirement & Taxes
Long-term financial planning, retirement accounts, government benefits, tax law, and IRS rules. Covers the intersection of policy and personal finance that affects how people save, invest, and plan ahead.
Latest in Retirement & Taxes
The IRS pays 8% interest on any federal refund delayed past 45 days — the rate just reset for Q3 2026, and the agency owed billions to late filers
If your federal tax refund is late, the IRS is paying you 8% annual interest on every day it keeps your money past a 45-day...
Form 5498 quietly reports every IRA contribution to the IRS each May — it’s the form that proves your basis and stops the IRS from taxing you twice in retirement
Every spring, a one-page tax form lands in the mailboxes of IRA holders across the country weeks after they have already filed their returns. Most...
SECURE Act 2.0 forces most non-spouse heirs to drain inherited IRAs within 10 years — but spouses, minor children, and disabled beneficiaries can still stretch withdrawals
A 52-year-old marketing director in Dallas inherits her late father’s $600,000 traditional IRA. Under rules that would have applied a decade ago, she could have...
Treasury Hunt at TreasuryDirect finds forgotten paper savings bonds by Social Security number for free — every Series H and HH bond in America stopped earning interest in August 2024
A retired teacher in Ohio discovers $12,000 in forgotten Series HH bonds while cleaning out her late mother’s safe deposit box. A son in Texas...
The SALT cap just quadrupled to $40,400 for single filers under the OBBB — for the first time since 2017, blue-state taxpayers can deduct most of their state taxes
For eight years, a single filer in Westchester County, New York, paying $22,000 in property taxes and $16,000 in state income taxes watched $28,000 in...
The IRS holds about $1 billion in tax refunds nobody filed for — and you have three years from a return’s due date before the money disappears for good
On April 15, 2026, the IRS permanently closed the books on an estimated $1.2 billion in unclaimed refunds from tax year 2022. That money now...
A new Social Security retirement calculator went live inside the my Social Security portal this month — it shows your monthly check side by side at every claiming age
For years, the Social Security Administration told you what your benefit would be at three ages: 62, full retirement age, and 70. If you wanted...
Roth IRA contributions can be pulled out tax-free and penalty-free at any age — only the investment gains have an age-59½ and five-year rule attached
When a young professional who has been funding a Roth IRA since landing her first salaried position needs $15,000 for a down payment, she can...
If you haven’t rebalanced your 401(k) since 2022, the stock-and-bond mix that felt safe then is wildly different now — most plans rebalance with two clicks
Picture the 401(k) allocation you chose sometime in 2022. Maybe it was 60% stocks and 40% bonds, a textbook moderate mix. You picked it during...
Most states give a tax deduction for 529 contributions even if you withdraw the money the same month — a same-year parking trick that trims state tax bills
Every spring, a familiar tip makes the rounds on Reddit, TikTok, and personal-finance blogs: contribute to a 529 education savings plan, claim your state’s tax...
A self-employed worker can stash up to $70,000 a year in a solo 401(k) — the same retirement vehicle big-company employees use, with no employer match required
When Sarah Chen left her UX design job at a Houston agency in 2023 to freelance full-time, she kept contributing to a Roth IRA. At...
Wartime veterans and their surviving spouses can claim up to $2,873 a month in Aid and Attendance pension — yet many families miss it because the rules sound too narrow
A veteran’s spouse pays $4,200 a month for a home health aide. A widow on a fixed income drains her savings to cover assisted-living fees....
Buy an American-built new car in 2025 and the OBBB lets you deduct up to $10,000 in loan interest — a brand-new tax break that phases out above $100,000 income
If you financed a new car that rolled off an American assembly line in 2025, you may be sitting on a federal tax deduction that...
Pay four equal quarterly estimated taxes equal to 100% of last year’s bill and the IRS can’t penalize you — even if you owe far more come April
The second quarterly estimated tax payment for 2026 is due June 15, and for freelancers, contractors, and small-business owners riding a strong income year, the...
The IRS quietly killed the dreaded $600 Venmo and PayPal tax-form rule — the threshold is back to $20,000 and 200 transactions, freeing most casual sellers
For four years, millions of Americans who sell the occasional item on eBay, take freelance payments through PayPal, or offload used furniture on Facebook Marketplace...
If your 401(k) holds your own company’s stock, the usual rollover can overtax it — a special “NUA” move taxes the gains at lower capital-gains rates
Imagine spending 25 years at a company whose stock price tripled during your career. Your 401(k) now holds $300,000 in employer shares, but the plan...
Some 401(k)s let you stash up to about $70,000 a year and convert it to a Roth — a “mega backdoor” move most plans allow but few employees use
A 45-year-old software engineer in Seattle maxes out her 401(k) every year, funds a backdoor Roth IRA, and still has money left over to invest....
Leave your job at 55 or later and you can tap that 401(k) penalty-free — but roll it into an IRA first and you lose the break for good
Picture this: a 56-year-old worker clears out her desk for the last time, knowing her 401(k) holds $400,000 and she needs $30,000 to bridge the...
Most taxpayers can file federal returns for free through IRS Free File or Direct File — yet millions still pay $150 or more for software that’s free for them
A married couple in Ohio earning $85,000 a year could file their federal tax return for free this season. So could a single freelance graphic...
A losing stock can still cut your tax bill — sell it, deduct up to $3,000 against your income, and carry the rest forward for years
You bought a stock that is now worth half what you paid. Every time you open your brokerage app, it sits there in red, a...