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
A retiree hit with a high Medicare premium after a one-time income spike can appeal it with Form SSA-44
Medicare’s high-income surcharge, formally the income-related monthly adjustment amount, is calculated from a tax return that is two years old — so a single spike...
A Medigap Plan N trades a lower premium for small doctor and ER copays
Among the ten standardized Medigap policies sold to people on Original Medicare, Plan N occupies a middle lane: it covers most of what the richer...
Rolling an old 401(k) straight into an IRA avoids the automatic 20% tax withholding a check made out to you would trigger
When a worker leaves a job and decides to move an old 401(k), one seemingly small choice determines whether the Internal Revenue Service takes a...
Inherited IRAs generally must be emptied within 10 years now, and missing a yearly withdrawal can trigger a penalty
The rules for inheriting a tax-deferred retirement account tightened sharply after the SECURE Act of 2019, and 2025 was the year the strictest version fully...
Missing a required IRA withdrawal can bring an IRS penalty of up to 25% of the amount a retiree should have taken
A retiree who forgets to pull the required amount from a traditional retirement account faces one of the steepest penalties in the tax code, but...
Someone who overpaid Social Security tax through two jobs can claim the excess back on a tax return
A worker who holds two jobs in the same year, or who changes employers mid-year, can end up paying more Social Security tax than the...
A retiree can have federal tax withheld straight from a Social Security check with Form W-4V to dodge a surprise April bill
Social Security benefits can be taxable, but the government withholds nothing from the monthly check unless a beneficiary specifically requests it. That single default catches...
The 20% qualified-business-income deduction can cut a self-employed retiree’s tax bill
A retiree who picks up consulting work, drives for a rideshare service or runs a small side business is often focused on the income and...
Original Medicare rarely covers foreign-travel emergencies, a gap some Medigap plans fill
An older American who books an overseas trip often assumes the Medicare coverage that works at home travels with them. In almost every case it...
Higher-income retirees face a Medicare surcharge in 2027 that is projected to start near $112,000 of income for a single filer
Retirees with six-figure incomes are being told to pull out their 2025 tax returns now, because a Medicare premium surcharge projected for 2027 is expected...
Medicare’s standard Part B premium is projected to rise to about $210 a month for 2027, with the official figure due this fall
Medicare’s trustees expect the standard monthly premium for Part B to reach about $210 in 2027, a smaller increase than beneficiaries have faced in most...
Medicare pays nothing toward long-term custodial care, which averages over $100,000 a year
The most expensive care most people will ever need is the care Medicare was never designed to pay for. Day-to-day help with bathing, dressing, eating,...
A Medigap Plan G covers the 15% surcharge some doctors add to Medicare’s rate
A little-known line item can appear on a Medicare patient’s bill when a doctor chooses not to accept Medicare’s payment as full payment. Called a...
A six-month Medigap window guarantees coverage with no health questions
The best price a person will ever be offered on a Medicare supplement policy usually arrives in a single six-month stretch, and it does not...
Original Medicare puts no yearly cap on out-of-pocket costs, unlike Medicare Advantage
Original Medicare covers a large share of a retiree’s medical bills, but it stops short of the one protection many enrollees assume they have: a...
A child can draw Social Security on a retired or disabled parent’s record, adding to a family’s monthly benefit
Most people picture Social Security as a check that arrives for the worker alone, yet a dependent child can draw a benefit on a living...
Social Security’s break-even math shows waiting to claim usually pays off for anyone who lives into their early 80s
Social Security lets a worker start retirement checks as early as age 62, but the timing carries a lasting price tag. Every month a claim...
One worker’s Social Security record can pay a spouse and children up to about 180% of the worker’s benefit
A single Social Security earnings record can support more than one person, but not without limit. When a spouse and dependent children draw benefits on...
A person born before 1954 can still file a restricted application and collect only a spousal benefit while their own check grows
A Social Security claiming maneuver that financial planners once recommended widely now survives for only a narrow slice of retirees. A person born before January...
Public workers hit by the old windfall rule are drawing bigger Social Security checks after the Fairness Act repealed it
For decades, two provisions quietly shaved down the Social Security checks of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees who had also earned a...