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 “net unrealized appreciation” move can cut the tax on company stock held in a 401(k)
Employer stock sitting inside a 401(k) carries a tax break that most rollovers quietly forfeit. Under the net unrealized appreciation rules, the growth on company...
Contributing to a traditional IRA can still cut this year’s tax bill for many workers
A traditional IRA remains one of the few moves that can lower a tax bill after the calendar year has already ended, and for 2026...
You can withdraw an excess or unwanted IRA contribution before the deadline to avoid a penalty
Putting too much into an IRA is a common mistake, and the tax code punishes it in an unusually persistent way: a 6 percent excise...
Naming a charity as your IRA beneficiary passes the account free of income tax
A traditional IRA is unusual among inherited assets in that it arrives with a tax bill attached. The money inside was never taxed on the...
A surviving spouse can claim a partner’s unused federal estate-tax exemption through portability
When one spouse dies, the survivor can inherit not only the couple’s property but also whatever slice of the deceased partner’s federal estate-tax exemption went...
The IRS can pause collection when paying would leave you short on basic living costs
When a tax debt collides with the cost of rent, food, and utilities, the Internal Revenue Service has a formal way to stand down. It...
The IRS will settle some tax debts for less than owed through an Offer in Compromise
The Internal Revenue Service does accept less than the full balance on some tax debts, settling the account through a program called an Offer in...
A Social Security “hold harmless” rule can keep a Part B premium jump from cutting most retirees’ checks
The standard Medicare Part B premium jumped to $202.90 a month for 2026, an increase of $17.90 over the $185 that enrollees paid in 2025...
Medicare covers a medically necessary ambulance ride when other travel would risk your health
Medicare will pay for an ambulance, but only under a test that catches many patients off guard: the ride has to be medically necessary, meaning...
Original Medicare now covers many telehealth visits from home
A retiree in Original Medicare can, right now, see a doctor by video from the kitchen table and have Medicare pay its share — a...
Anti-rejection drugs stay covered for life for Medicare kidney-transplant patients
For decades, Medicare paid for a kidney transplant and then, three years later, stopped paying for the drugs that keep the new organ alive. The...
Medicare pays for a one-time abdominal aortic aneurysm screening for those at risk
An abdominal aortic aneurysm gives almost no warning. The body’s largest artery balloons silently, often for years, until it ruptures — an event that kills...
Medicare covers medical nutrition therapy at no cost for people with diabetes or kidney disease
Among the long list of Medicare services that carry a copay or a deductible, medical nutrition therapy is a rarity: for the people who qualify,...
Many states run a pharmaceutical assistance program that helps seniors pay for prescriptions
Medicare Part D is not the only program that can pay down a senior’s drug bill. A number of states — though far from all...
Every state offers free one-on-one Medicare counseling through its SHIP program
Every state funds free, one-on-one Medicare counseling through a program most enrollees have never heard of: the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or SHIP. Backed...
A widow or widower can switch between a survivor benefit and their own retirement check to get the most
For a widow or widower, Social Security offers a choice that most beneficiaries never get: two different benefits, drawn from two different records, that can...
A disabled worker’s spouse and children can also draw a monthly check on that worker’s Social Security record
When a worker qualifies for Social Security disability benefits, the payment does not have to stop with the worker. A spouse and children can each...
Legal immigrants who earned 40 work credits can collect Social Security like any other worker
A widespread assumption holds that Social Security retirement benefits are reserved for citizens. They are not. The program pays a monthly retirement benefit based on...
A dependent parent of a worker who dies can qualify for a monthly Social Security parent’s benefit
Most Social Security survivor benefits flow down a generation, to a widow, widower, or child. One little-known benefit runs the other way: an aging parent...
A surviving divorced spouse can collect Social Security survivor benefits when the marriage lasted 10 years
A divorce does not always sever the Social Security tie between two people. When a former spouse dies, the survivor can still draw a monthly...