Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
President Donald Trump’s latest tax overhaul is quietly reshaping the math for homeowners, especially in high-tax states and for borrowers carrying sizable mortgages. Between a sharply higher cap on state and local tax write-offs, a permanent mortgage interest deduction limit, and a new push to let owners depreciate their primary homes, the potential savings can…
President Donald Trump’s new $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department for leaking his tax records is not just another legal skirmish in a long-running feud. It is a direct collision between a sitting president’s personal financial claims and the machinery of federal tax enforcement that every American relies on….
Millions of Americans who count on early tax refunds to cover rent, car payments, and credit card bills are discovering that the money they expected within weeks may now arrive much later. A mix of policy changes, processing bottlenecks, and the threat of a federal government shutdown is turning what is usually a predictable payout…
Your tax refund has suddenly become collateral in a political fight in Washington, and the timing could not be worse. With filing season already underway, a partial federal shutdown is colliding with the weeks when millions of households count on refunds to catch up on bills, pay down holiday debt, or rebuild thin savings. I…
For once, tax season is delivering a pleasant surprise. A combination of a major court ruling on tariffs and sweeping federal tax changes means some Americans now qualify for thousands of dollars in unexpected refunds, on top of already larger checks forecast for 2026. The windfall will not reach everyone, but for households and businesses…
Tax season is colliding with a wave of structural shocks at the Internal Revenue Service, and the tremors are landing hardest on hundreds of thousands of ordinary filers. A decade after hackers penetrated the agency’s systems to pull detailed returns on more than 300,000 people, fears of sabotage, political or criminal, are again shaping how…
Independent contractors enjoy flexibility that traditional employees rarely see, but the tradeoff is a more complicated tax life. Instead of automatic paycheck withholding, you are responsible for calculating what you owe, tracking multiple forms, and hitting a series of quarterly and annual deadlines. Understanding those rules is the difference between smooth filing and surprise penalties….
The Jan. 31 information‑return deadline has come and gone, and if you did not get your 1099s out on time, the clock is already ticking on IRS penalties. The good news is that the system is tiered, so a brief delay costs far less than ignoring the problem altogether, but the bad news is that…
The new $600 IRS reporting rule was sold as a way to catch tax cheats at the top, but its sharpest edge cuts into the lives of people stringing together side gigs, online sales, and tips to stay afloat. Instead of targeting complex tax shelters, the lower threshold pulls casual earners and very small businesses…
For families with significant assets, 2026 is shaping up as a rare window to move wealth to the next generation with relatively little friction from the tax code. The federal estate and gift framework now combines a high lifetime exemption with stable annual limits, and that mix creates planning opportunities that can sharply reduce what…