Tax Changes & Deadlines
New tax laws, bracket changes, deduction updates, filing deadlines, refund timelines, and what taxpayers need to know each season.
Latest in Tax Changes & Deadlines
Buy an American-built new car in 2025 and the OBBB lets you deduct up to $10,000 in loan interest — a brand-new tax break that phases out above $100,000 income
If you financed a new car that rolled off an American assembly line in 2025, you may be sitting on a federal tax deduction that...
Pay four equal quarterly estimated taxes equal to 100% of last year’s bill and the IRS can’t penalize you — even if you owe far more come April
The second quarterly estimated tax payment for 2026 is due June 15, and for freelancers, contractors, and small-business owners riding a strong income year, the...
The IRS quietly killed the dreaded $600 Venmo and PayPal tax-form rule — the threshold is back to $20,000 and 200 transactions, freeing most casual sellers
For four years, millions of Americans who sell the occasional item on eBay, take freelance payments through PayPal, or offload used furniture on Facebook Marketplace...
Most taxpayers can file federal returns for free through IRS Free File or Direct File — yet millions still pay $150 or more for software that’s free for them
A married couple in Ohio earning $85,000 a year could file their federal tax return for free this season. So could a single freelance graphic...
A losing stock can still cut your tax bill — sell it, deduct up to $3,000 against your income, and carry the rest forward for years
You bought a stock that is now worth half what you paid. Every time you open your brokerage app, it sits there in red, a...
You can gift up to about $19,000 a year to each person completely tax-free — no IRS form required, a break most families never realize they have
Your daughter is scraping together a down payment on her first home. You have the savings to help. You write her a check for $19,000,...
Parents can run up to $5,000 of daycare and after-school costs through a pretax account — cutting a four-figure tax bill most working families never set up
A family with two working parents and a toddler in full-time daycare can easily spend $14,000 or more on childcare in a single year. What...
One in five workers who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit never claim it — worth up to $8,000, it’s the most overlooked refund in the tax code
Every April, the federal government quietly keeps billions of dollars that low-income workers were entitled to receive. Not because Congress cut a program or an...
A giant tax refund means you lent the IRS your money interest-free all year — adjusting one form puts that cash back in every paycheck instead
Last spring, the IRS reported that the average federal tax refund through early April 2025 was roughly $3,100, according to the agency’s filing season statistics....
The Child Tax Credit is now $2,200 per child — but it phases out for higher earners and leaves out many of the lowest-income families who need it most
A single mother earning $15,000 a year and a married couple bringing home $350,000 both have children who qualify for the Child Tax Credit. But...
A married couple earning under about $96,700 pays zero federal tax on long-term investment gains in 2026 — a 0% bracket most investors don’t realize they qualify for
A married couple in their early 50s earns a combined $120,000 in wages. They sell a stock held for three years and pocket a $15,000...
The standard deduction climbs to $32,200 for married couples in 2026 — meaning the first $32,200 a couple earns is now completely shielded from federal income tax
For millions of married couples filing their 2026 federal tax returns, the first $32,200 they earn will not be taxed at all. That is not...
The tax break on home-sale profits hasn’t risen since 1997 — and now a growing share of ordinary sellers owe capital gains tax just for selling their own house
A couple in Denver who bought their house for $180,000 in 1998 could sell it for north of $650,000 today, based on Colorado’s FHFA House...
High earners lost a 401(k) tax break this year — anyone making over $145,000 must now put their catch-up contributions in a Roth, paying the tax upfront instead of later
A 55-year-old project manager earning $160,000 just saw her paycheck shrink, and she did not get a pay cut. Starting in 2025, a provision of...
The standard deduction climbed to $32,200 for married couples this year — but the new senior bonus deduction is the break most retirees are leaving on the table
Married couples filing jointly for tax year 2026 will claim a record standard deduction of $32,200, thanks to the latest round of inflation adjustments the...
53 million Americans claimed Trump’s new no-tax-on-tips and overtime breaks this spring — pushing the average refund up $340 to $3,462
When the IRS began processing returns for the spring 2026 filing season, something unusual showed up in the numbers almost immediately: refunds were running significantly...
New deductions for tips, overtime, and car loan interest took effect under the One Big Beautiful Bill — they apply starting with your 2026 return filed next year
For the first time, a restaurant server’s tips, a factory worker’s overtime pay, and a commuter’s car loan interest can reduce their federal tax bill...
Average tax refund hits $3,400 this season — up 11% — but the real increase is $350, not the $1,000+ the White House projected
Millions of Americans were told to expect a tax refund roughly $1,000 fatter than last year’s. The checks have landed, and the actual increase is...
No, updating your W-4 isn’t free money — here’s how a withholding mistake today becomes a tax bill in April 2027
Imagine opening your paycheck in June 2026 and finding an extra $200. You didn’t get a raise. You just filed a new W-4 with your...
No, your tax refund wasn’t supposed to be $1,000 bigger: here’s what actually happened with the OBBB tax breaks
Millions of gig and hourly workers filed their 2025 tax returns this spring expecting a windfall. Social media had promised refund bumps of $1,000 or...