Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
The Internal Revenue Service warned taxpayers about “ghost” tax return preparers in its 2025 Dirty Dozen list of tax scams, saying these paid preparers may lure filers with promises of inflated refunds, then disappear without signing the return or leaving traceable identification. The scheme shifts full legal liability onto the taxpayer while the preparer pockets…
The IRS enforces a set of overlapping deadlines that determine how far back it can review a tax return, assess additional tax, and pursue collection. Most taxpayers assume the agency has only three years to act, but specific exceptions can stretch that window to six years, ten years, or eliminate it entirely. With the IRS…
High-income earners across the United States are using rental real estate losses to offset six-figure salaries, turning a little-known provision buried in the Internal Revenue Code into one of the most effective legal tax reduction strategies available, and the mechanism hinges on qualifying as a “real estate professional” under Section 469(c)(7) of the tax code,…
California voters could face a ballot measure this November that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of billionaires living in the state, with the vast majority of the revenue directed toward health care services including Medi-Cal. The proposal, formally titled the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, targets residents whose net worth exceeded $1…
Thousands of taxpayers face the prospect of refiling their federal returns after a series of IRS processing failures, social media-driven filing errors, and e-file rejections created a backlog that federal watchdogs say is affecting millions of people. With the 2025 filing season set to begin on January 27 and the April 15 deadline looming, the…
The Treasury Department and IRS released guidance confirming that workers who earn tips can deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tip income from their federal taxes for tax years 2025 through 2028. The new deduction, created under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, is retroactive to 2025 but will not change paychecks right away because…
The White House declared the 2026 filing season the “biggest tax refund season ever,” projecting that refunds would rise by $1,000 or more thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law on July 4, 2025. Early IRS data shows average refund checks climbing 10.9% compared with the same point last year, but…
The Florida House of Representatives voted 80-30 on February 19, 2026, to pass a joint resolution that would exempt homestead properties from certain non-school ad valorem (property) taxes, if it is ultimately approved by the Senate and voters. Designated CS/CS/HJR 203, the measure proposes a constitutional amendment to exempt homesteads from all non-school ad valorem…
Federal law draws a hard line for anyone paying cash for gold: when a dealer receives more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction or a series of related payments, the dealer generally must file IRS Form 8300, reporting identifying information about the buyer. While the dollar threshold is fixed in law, with gold…
The IRS reported that the average tax refund for the 2025 tax year stands at $2,290 as of early February 2026, a 10.9% jump from the $2,065 average recorded at the same point last year. The increase arrives during a filing season shaped by new federal deductions and growing questions about whether the agency has…