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
Medicare Advantage members get a Jan. 1 to March 31 window to switch plans or return to Original Medicare
The first three months of every year give Medicare Advantage enrollees a narrow correction window after new coverage has taken effect. From January 1 through...
Retirees can have federal tax withheld from Social Security with Form W-4V to avoid a surprise April bill
Social Security arrives without federal income-tax withholding unless a beneficiary asks for it, a setup that can make an apparently stable monthly budget produce an...
A child can collect Social Security on a retired, disabled or deceased parent’s record
Social Security is commonly described as a worker’s retirement check, but the same earnings record can support a child when a parent retires, develops a...
Leftover 529 college savings can roll into a Roth IRA, up to $35,000
A 529 account no longer has to become a tax problem simply because a child received a scholarship, chose a cheaper school or never used...
A widow or widower can claim a survivor benefit as early as 60, though the check is permanently reduced
Survivor benefits create one of Social Security’s most consequential timing choices because a surviving spouse can begin receiving money years before ordinary retirement benefits reach...
Waiting until 70 lifts the top Social Security check to $5,181 in 2026
The largest new Social Security retirement benefit available to a qualifying worker who claims at age 70 in 2026 is $5,181 a month. That figure...
You can put $4,400 in a health savings account in 2026, or $8,750 for a family, plus $1,000 at 55
Health savings account limits rose again for 2026, giving eligible households more room to save for medical costs with unusually strong tax treatment. The annual...
Tipped workers can deduct up to $25,000 of tip income on their 2025 tax return under a new law
A new federal deduction can remove as much as $25,000 of qualified tip income from taxable income on a 2025 return. The break is available...
High earners over $150,000 must now make their 401(k) catch-up contributions as after-tax Roth money in 2026
A new tax split now applies to older, higher-paid participants making extra contributions to many workplace retirement plans. In 2026, someone whose prior-year wages from...
Workers under full retirement age can earn up to $24,480 in 2026 before Social Security holds back benefits
Social Security allows retirement beneficiaries to keep working, but people below full retirement age face an earnings test that can temporarily reduce their checks. For...
Fifteen Medicare drugs, including Ozempic, get 38% to 85% price cuts in 2027
Medicare has finished negotiating a second group of prescription-drug prices, and the new figures take effect on January 1, 2027. The list covers 15 widely...
Checking your Social Security earnings record can catch a missing year that quietly shrinks your check for life
A single blank year buried in a Social Security earnings record can follow a worker into retirement and drain money from every monthly check for...
Medicare’s old Part D “donut hole” is gone, so drug costs no longer spike partway through the year
For years, Medicare drug coverage carried a trap that caught patients by surprise every summer. After a plan and a beneficiary had spent a certain...
A free national search can turn up a lost pension from an employer that merged or shut down decades ago
A worker who spent years at a company that later merged, was bought out, or closed its doors entirely may assume any pension earned there...
SSI recipients get no deposit in August — the payment arrived July 31, and the next lands September 1
Millions of people who rely on Supplemental Security Income will look for a payment in August and find none arriving. The reason is a quirk...
Retirees 70½ and older can send IRA money straight to charity and skip the income tax on the withdrawal
A retiree who donates to charity every year may be handing the IRS more than the law requires. Federal rules let owners of an individual...
Most home sellers can keep up to $250,000 of profit tax-free, or $500,000 for a married couple
Up to $250,000 in home-sale profit for a single owner, and $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, can be pocketed with no federal capital-gains...
In a no-income-tax state you can deduct your sales taxes instead, a break retirees in Florida and Texas often miss
Retirees who moved to Florida or Texas for the absence of a state income tax often assume that choice erases a line on their federal...
Retirees in the lower tax brackets can sell investments and owe 0% federal tax on long-term gains
A retiree who sells a long-held stock or mutual fund usually braces for a tax bill, but a large group of older Americans can realize...
Money moved into a qualified longevity annuity escapes required withdrawals until payments begin, as late as 85
Retirees who dread required minimum distributions have a little-known way to carve a slice of a retirement account out of the calculation entirely. A qualified...