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
The IRS page promising Mississippi storm victims a February 1 deadline carries an August correction limiting its quarterly payroll relief to the July 31 and November 2 deadlines
A note added to the top of the Internal Revenue Service’s Mississippi storm-relief notice on August 21 says the February 1, 2027 extension in one...
Taxpayers in six Washington counties burned in July are not bound by October 15: the IRS moved their extended returns and estimated payments to February 1
For most Americans with a six-month extension on their 2025 income tax return, October 15 is the last day to file. In six Washington counties,...
Under proposed IRS rules, the new federal scholarship tax credit tops out at $1,700 per person, cannot exceed tax owed and subtracts any state credit first, with comments due December 1
The new federal scholarship tax credit would cut a taxpayer’s federal tax bill by at most $1,700 a year for cash gifts to a scholarship...
The 25C home energy credit is gone for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and the clean-vehicle credits ended for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025
Two sets of federal tax credits for energy and electric vehicles have stopped. The Internal Revenue Service says the credit for energy-efficient home improvements, known...
IRS gives Tropical Storm Arthur victims in nine Louisiana parishes until Nov. 2
Taxpayers in nine Louisiana parishes now have until Nov. 2, 2026, to file a long list of federal returns and make federal tax payments, the...
Relatives paid to provide home care are generally household employees, the IRS says
A relative paid to look after an older or disabled family member at home is, in the IRS’s usual treatment, an employee of the person...
Marketplace enrollees who get too much Obamacare subsidy for 2026 must repay all of it at tax time, as Trump’s tax law ends the old repayment caps
Marketplace enrollees whose 2026 income lands above the figure they gave the exchange will owe back the entire excess in premium tax credit when they...
The IRS canceled its October 14 hearing on treating the refunded part of four tax credits as a federal public benefit after no one asked to testify
The Internal Revenue Service has called off the October 14 public hearing on its plan to treat the refunded portion of four federal tax credits...
North Carolina’s income tax rate falls from 3.99% to 3.49% for tax year 2027, then to 3.24% in 2030 and 2.99% in 2033, under Senate Bill 257
North Carolina’s flat personal income tax rate is set to fall from 3.99% to 3.49% for tax year 2027, the first step in a schedule...
The fourth 2026 estimated tax payment is due January 15, 2027, and the IRS warns underpaying can bring a penalty even for filers due a refund
The last 2026 estimated tax payment is due Friday, January 15, 2027, and the Internal Revenue Service says that missing a payment date can bring...
The IRS is mailing CP321J letters to Saver’s Credit filers about the new Saver’s Match that replaces the credit in 2027
The IRS has posted an explainer for Notice CP321J, a letter about the Saver’s Match, the federal matching contribution that replaces the Saver’s Credit in...
Household helpers under 18 are exempt from Social Security tax on that pay unless it is their main job, the IRS says
An age line, not a dollar threshold, decides whether a teenager’s babysitting or yard-work pay counts toward a family’s Social Security and Medicare tax bill:...
Families who pay a home caregiver $3,000 or more in 2026 owe Social Security and Medicare taxes on those wages
Cash wages crossing $3,000 to a single household employee during 2026 pull a family into paying Social Security and Medicare tax on the full amount,...
Storm victims in Indiana and West Virginia have until February 1, 2027 for various IRS deadlines
Storm victims across parts of Indiana and West Virginia have until February 1, 2027, to file and pay a range of federal taxes that would...
Itemizers can deduct only charitable gifts above 0.5 percent of their income starting in 2026
Starting with the 2026 tax year, a household that itemizes deductions can no longer write off every dollar given to charity: only the portion of...
Employers must report qualified overtime separately starting with 2026 wages
The reporting break that covered overtime pay in 2025 is over, the Internal Revenue Service has confirmed: starting with wages paid in 2026, employers and...
A new law lengthens the refund clock for anyone in a disaster area
Congress spent most of 2025 moving a single sentence through the tax code, and on December 26 that sentence became Public Law 119-64, the Disaster...
Thirteen federal disaster areas had their October 15 tax deadline pushed to February 1
Thirteen separate IRS disaster notices now carry the identical extended deadline: taxpayers who requested more time on their 2025 returns, and who would normally owe...
Extension filers face October 15, but taxpayers in 21 Indiana counties now have until February 1
Twenty-one Indiana counties have been given until February 1, 2027, to file federal tax returns and pay taxes that would otherwise fall due this fall,...
Tax forms will separately report tips and overtime for the first time next year
Beginning with tax year 2026, employers and other payors will be required to report qualified tips and qualified overtime pay as distinct, itemized figures on...