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
Some retirees pay zero federal tax on long-term investment gains when their income stays low enough
The federal tax code contains a bracket that many older investors never notice: a zero percent rate on long-term capital gains for taxpayers whose taxable...
A new federal program will match up to $1,000 a year for workers who save without a job plan
Starting in 2027, the federal government will begin depositing money directly into the retirement accounts of lower- and moderate-income workers who set some cash aside...
A new deduction lets car buyers write off up to $10,000 of auto-loan interest through 2028
Car buyers can now write off up to $10,000 a year in auto-loan interest under a new federal deduction created by the One Big Beautiful...
A major Minnesota health system is leaving UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage network on January 1
About 11,000 Minnesotans stand to lose in-network access to their doctors when Fairview Health Services stops scheduling patients enrolled in UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans on...
A Roth IRA never forces withdrawals, letting the money grow tax-free for heirs
Every other retirement account eventually forces the owner’s hand. Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s carry required minimum distributions — annual withdrawals the government demands starting at...
A durable power of attorney lets someone manage your money if you can’t
Illness, a stroke, or the slow arithmetic of dementia can take away a person’s ability to manage money long before it takes anything else. When...
A transfer-on-death deed passes a home to heirs without probate in many states
For most retirees, the house is the biggest thing they will ever leave behind — and if it passes through a will, it usually passes...
A pooled income trust can help someone over the income limit still get Medicaid care
Medicaid’s long-term-care rules can produce a cruel result: an older person with a modest pension or Social Security check earns a few dollars too much...
Medicaid covers assisted-living costs in many states through special waivers
Assisted living sits in an awkward middle ground for older Americans: it costs less than a nursing home but far more than most Social Security...
Medicaid home- and community-based waivers can pay for care at home instead of a facility
Most older Americans who need long-term help with daily tasks would rather receive it at home than move into a nursing facility, and Medicaid has...
Being a QMB shields a Medicare enrollee from being balance-billed by providers
A bill arrives for a doctor’s visit or hospital stay that should have cost the patient nothing, and for one group of Medicare enrollees, sending...
A “medically needy” spend-down can qualify you for Medicaid after high medical bills
An applicant whose income sits just above the Medicaid limit often hears what sounds like a final rejection. In many states it is not. A...
Medicaid, not Medicare, pays for long-term nursing-home care once you qualify
Families managing a parent’s decline often discover the hard way that the program they counted on does not cover the bill in front of them....
Spousal rules let a healthy spouse keep income and assets when the other needs nursing care
When one spouse enters a nursing home and turns to Medicaid to cover the bill, the partner who remains at home once faced a grim...
Many states let seniors freeze or defer property taxes to protect a fixed income
A rising property-tax bill can push a retiree out of a home the mortgage never could. Assessments climb with the housing market, but a fixed...
The federal tax-extension deadline is October 15, but any tax owed was due back in April
Millions of taxpayers who asked for more time in the spring are now bearing down on a hard date: October 15, the deadline to file...
NewYork-Presbyterian could go out of UnitedHealthcare’s network September 1 without a deal
One of the country’s best-known hospital systems is days from dropping out of a major Medicare Advantage network, and the outcome was still unsettled as...
Trump’s new drug-pricing model starts in January for costly Medicare Part B medicines
Separate from the advertised cash-price cuts that grabbed headlines this month, Medicare is preparing to change how it pays for some of the most expensive...
No tax on overtime: a deduction up to $12,500, or $25,000 for couples, on 2025 returns
A second new federal write-off from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act lets workers deduct their overtime pay, up to $12,500 on a single return...
No tax on tips: workers can deduct up to $25,000 in tips on their 2025 return
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a federal deduction that lets tipped workers subtract up to $25,000 in reported tips from their taxable income,...