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
After 65, health-savings-account money covers any expense penalty-free, and medical costs stay tax-free
Workers with health savings accounts who reach age 65 gain a quiet but powerful tax break: the 20 percent penalty that normally applies to non-medical...
Survivors of veterans who died from service-connected causes get a tax-free benefit topping $1,650 a month
Surviving spouses and dependents of veterans whose deaths resulted from service-connected causes currently receive a monthly Dependency and Indemnity Compensation payment that is tax-free and...
Retirees whose 2025 income topped about $111,000 will owe Medicare’s high-income surcharge in 2027
Retirees who earned modified adjusted gross income above roughly $111,000 in 2025 will see higher Medicare Part B and Part D premiums starting in January...
$310 is Medicare’s projected 2027 Part B deductible, up about $27 from this year
Medicare beneficiaries face a projected Part B annual deductible of about $310 in 2027, roughly $27 more than the $283 deductible set for 2026. That...
$11,250 is the extra a 401(k) saver aged 60 to 63 can stash this year, more than any other age group
Workers turning 60 to 63 in 2026 can contribute an extra $11,250 to their 401(k) plans this year, a catch-up amount that exceeds what any...
Social Security’s raise tracks workers’ costs, not retirees’, shortchanging seniors again in 2027
Roughly 70 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive their 2027 cost-of-living adjustment based on a price index designed for urban wage earners and clerical workers,...
2 million seniors miss $11.4 billion in Medicare Extra Help drug savings yearly
Every year, millions of low-income Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for prescription drug savings never receive them. The federal program known as Extra Help, or the...
Heirs who inherit an IRA now have just 10 years to empty it, and many owe yearly withdrawals along the way
Millions of Americans who inherited retirement accounts after 2019 now face a compressed deadline to withdraw every dollar, and the federal government is about to...
A spouse who never worked can still claim up to half the other’s Social Security at full retirement age
Millions of Americans who spent years outside the paid workforce, whether raising children, managing a household, or caring for family members, can still collect Social...
Medicare charges a hospital deductible topping $1,600 each time you’re admitted in 2026
Medicare beneficiaries who need hospital care in 2026 will pay $1,736 out of pocket each time a new benefit period begins, a $60 increase over...
Hospitals keep dropping Medicare Advantage plans over payment fights, and some seniors will need new doctors in 2027
Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans across the country face a growing risk of losing access to their current hospitals and doctors as contract disputes...
People 65 and older get an extra standard deduction — $2,050 for singles — on top of the new senior bonus
Millions of Americans age 65 and older will stack two separate tax breaks on their 2026 returns for the first time: the longstanding extra standard...
$1,000 a year is what the government will start depositing into low- and middle-income retirement accounts in 2027
Millions of low- and middle-income workers will soon have a new reason to check their retirement accounts after tax season. Starting in 2027, the federal...
Retirees who filed a tax extension face an October 15 deadline, and missing it stacks penalties on any balance
Retirees who used Form 4868 to push back their federal tax filing deadline now face an October 15 cutoff, and any balance still owed after...
A surviving spouse can collect 100% of a late husband or wife’s Social Security by waiting until survivor full retirement age
Widows and widowers who file for Social Security survivor benefits at age 60 lock in payments worth just 71.5% of what their late spouse earned....
Medicare’s 2027 plan-change notices arrive by September 30, and ignoring yours can lock you into a worse plan
Every person enrolled in a Medicare Advantage or Part D prescription drug plan will receive a document this fall that spells out exactly how their...
Retirement savers who turn 73 must take a minimum withdrawal by December 31 or risk a 25% penalty
Americans who turned 73 this year face a hard deadline: withdraw the required minimum distribution from their retirement accounts by December 31 or owe the...
Medicare’s free yearly wellness visit is not the full physical many expect
Millions of Medicare beneficiaries schedule their free Annual Wellness Visit each year expecting a head-to-toe physical exam. What they receive instead is a structured preventive-planning...
$25,000 in combined income is when Social Security benefits start getting taxed, a limit frozen since 1984
Millions of retirees now owe federal income tax on their Social Security checks because of a dollar threshold that Congress set more than four decades...
A surviving spouse often jumps into a higher tax bracket the year after a partner dies, the widow’s penalty
Surviving spouses across the United States face a sharp, often unexpected tax increase in the years after a partner’s death. The shift happens not because...