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
IRS is now using AI chatbots to flag risky returns — the 2026 red flags most likely to trigger a look
A freelance graphic designer in Austin filed her 2025 return in February, confident the numbers were right. Six weeks later, she got a CP2000 notice...
SSA warns of surge in fake Social Security benefit-statement emails targeting seniors
The email looks like it came straight from the Social Security Administration: the agency logo sits at the top, the formatting is clean, and the...
New “Six Figure Limit” proposal would cap Social Security benefits at $50,000 per person
A retired couple in which both spouses earned top salaries for 35-plus years and waited until age 70 to file could collect roughly $122,000 a...
New USPS postmark rules could make your mailed tax return “late” even if you sent it on the 15th
New USPS postmark rules could make your mailed tax return “late” even if you sent it on the 15th You walk into the post office...
Medicare Part B deductible climbs to $283 — another hit on top of the premium
The 2026 Medicare Part B deductible is now $283, a $26 jump from the $257 that beneficiaries paid in 2025. Paired with a standard monthly...
22 million filers are claiming the “no tax on overtime” deduction — 5–8 million more than the IRS expected
The federal government built a new tax break for overtime pay and expected millions of workers to use it. What officials did not expect was...
Suze Orman: “The 2026 Social Security–Medicare trap is here” — Part B premium hike eats a third of the COLA
A retiree collecting the average Social Security check will see about $56 more per month starting in January 2026. Before that money covers a single...
IRS warns of “dishonest preparers” charging excessive fees to claim bogus tip and overtime deductions
Imagine a scenario that reflects the pattern the IRS describes: a restaurant server walks into a tax office and is told she qualifies for thousands...
IRS: average tax refund rises 11% to about $3,676 this filing season
The average American tax refund is running about $370 larger than it was at the same point last year, and the gap has held steady...
IRS issues final “no tax on tips” rules and eligible job list
Starting June 12, 2026, a restaurant server in Dallas who earns $28,000 a year in tips will be able to shield up to $25,000 of...
Medicare Part B premium rises 9.7% to $202.90 a month in 2026
The standard Medicare Part B premium will jump to $202.90 per month in 2026, an increase of $17.90 from the $185.00 that enrollees paid in...
Social Security trust fund may run dry by 2032, CBO projection shows
A worker turning 60 this year could be 66 when Social Security’s reserves hit zero, too young even to reach the program’s full retirement age...
April 15 tax deadline nears as IRS prepares for 164 million returns
The IRS expects to receive roughly 164 million individual income tax returns by Wednesday, April 15, a volume that would make this one of the...
What happens to Social Security checks if the trust fund is depleted
Every month, roughly 70 million Americans deposit a Social Security check. For many retirees, that payment covers rent, groceries, and prescriptions with little left over....
Comparing Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, and 401(k)s across incomes
A 28-year-old teacher earning $50,000 can stash money in a Roth IRA, a traditional IRA, or a workplace 401(k) and choose freely among them. A...
IRS data: tax refunds total $202B so far, up nearly 13% this season
American households have already collected $202.6 billion in tax refunds this filing season, and the average check is roughly $350 larger than it was a...
The maximum Social Security check in 2026 is $4,152 a month. Here’s what it actually takes to get it
Fewer than one in a hundred American retirees will ever see $4,152 land in their bank account from Social Security. That is the maximum monthly...
Why so many retirees are paying federal tax on Social Security they thought was tax-free
Pull $22,000 a year from Social Security, collect a $19,000 state pension, and withdraw another $15,000 from a traditional IRA to cover property taxes and...
The FIRE movement promised retirement by 45: is it still achievable in 2026?
The FIRE movement, short for Financial Independence, Retire Early, once captured the imagination of millions of savers who believed they could leave the workforce decades...
The states with zero income tax that retirees are flocking to in 2026
For retirees looking to stretch Social Security checks, pension income, and retirement withdrawals, state taxes can make a real difference. Nine states currently levy no...