Category: Taxes Made Simple
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Disaster filers in Indiana, Nebraska, West Virginia and Mississippi have until February 1, and the IRS applies it by address
Four states now share the same tax deadline for reasons that have nothing to do with each other. Storms in Indiana, a wildfire in Nebraska, flooding in West Virginia and a tropical storm in Mississippi each triggered a separate IRS disaster declaration this summer, and every one of them lands on the identical date: February…
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The IRS says anyone who has not filed in more than six years may be locked out of its free Direct Pay tool
The IRS used a routine payment reminder this week to flag a detail that catches more taxpayers than the agency probably intends: its free Direct Pay tool will not work for everyone who tries it. Anyone who has gone more than six years without filing a federal return, or who has simply never filed one,…
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Clean vehicle tax credits died for any car acquired after September 30, 2025
Three federal tax credits that helped bring down the price of an electric or hybrid vehicle are no longer available to most buyers, and the change is not a proposal working its way through Congress — it is settled law that has already taken effect. The New Clean Vehicle Credit, the Used Clean Vehicle Credit,…
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Four kinds of debt can take a federal refund before it reaches the bank, and the IRS is not the agency that knows why
A federal tax refund can arrive smaller than the number on the return for two very different reasons, and only one of them has anything to do with the IRS. The first is a correction to the return itself — a math error, a disallowed credit, an old tax bill. The second is a debt…
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The average tax refund ran $3,276, up $337 from last season
By the time the IRS closed the books on its final weekly tally of the 2026 filing season, the count that ran through May 8, the average individual refund stood at $3,276, up $337 from the $2,939 average at the same point in the 2025 season. That comparison comes from the agency’s own season-ending data…
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Treasury has proposed making taxpayers swear under penalty of perjury before a refundable credit is paid out
Two federal agencies have proposed making taxpayers sign a new perjury declaration before they can collect the refundable portion of four common tax credits, tying eligibility for that money to citizenship or immigration status for what would be the first time inside the individual tax code. The rule is not in effect, and no return…
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Extension filers have until October 15, and a return more than 60 days late carries a minimum $525 penalty
Roughly 19 million taxpayers asked the IRS for extra time to file their 2025 return this year, and that borrowed time runs out on October 15. For most of them the stakes are more than a scolding letter — a return that arrives more than 60 days after that date now triggers a minimum penalty…
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A failed direct deposit brings IRS notice CP53E and 30 days to supply bank details.
The IRS’s shutdown of paper refund checks turned one ordinary filing mistake, a bad bank routing number, into a notice with its own name and its own clock: CP53E, with exactly 30 days attached to fix it. Anyone who’s filed a return expecting a refund and instead found a notice in the mailbox is dealing…
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The senior deduction is available whether a filer itemizes or takes the standard deduction.
Most tax breaks in the federal code force a choice: itemize specific expenses on Schedule A, or take the standard deduction and skip the itemizing altogether. The Internal Revenue Service has now confirmed that the new enhanced deduction for people 65 and older breaks that pattern. A taxpayer doesn’t have to give up the standard…
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A couple where both spouses qualify can deduct $12,000, and the break ends after 2028.
Married couples doing their own tax math this filing season are running into a provision that didn’t exist on returns before 2025: an extra deduction set aside for people 65 and older, doubled when both spouses qualify for it. The Internal Revenue Service laid out the mechanics in a tax tip published this February, and…
