Daniel Kim

TLDR — Save this Congress added four new tax deductions for 2025 through 2028: up to $25,000 for tips, up to $12,500 for overtime ($25,000 for joint filers), up to $10,000 for car loan interest, and $6,000 for seniors 65 and older ($12,000 for a qualifying couple). All four are claimed on one new form, Schedule 1-A, and they work whether you take the standard deduction or itemize. A household that qualified for all four could deduct up to $72,000. If you already filed your 2025 return without Schedule 1-A, you can generally still fix it with an amended return. Your 2026 return is due April 15, 2027. The tax law signed on July 4, 2025 — the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, Public Law 119-21 — added four deductions most taxpayers have never claimed, because the form to claim them did not exist until the IRS created Schedule 1-A in March 2026. The IRS issued the final rules for the tips deduction on April 10, 2026, five days before the filing deadline for 2025 returns. That timing is the op...

Your FSA Money Expires December 31 — the $680 Rule That Decides What You Keep By Daniel Kim If you put money into a health flexible spending account this year, part of it may already be scheduled to disappear. A health FSA is use-it-or-lose-it by design: money you do not spend on eligible medical expenses by the end of your plan year generally goes back to your employer. For most people on a calendar-year plan, that date is December 31, 2026. Two IRS rules soften the blow — a carryover of up to $680, or a grace period of up to two and a half months — but your plan offers at most one of them, and neither is automatic. December is crowded with benefit deadlines: Medicare Open Enrollment ends December 7, and if you have not checked your 2027 drug coverage, that deadline matters more than this one . This post works through the 2026 numbers, three worked examples, and the checklist to run before December 31. TL;DR For calendar-year plans, unspent 2026 health FSA money is fo...

By Daniel Kim Medicare Open Enrollment ends December 7, 2026, and if you miss it, you are locked into your plan's 2027 terms for a year, with any change taking effect January 1, 2027. The window runs October 15 through December 7, and during it you can join, drop, or switch a Medicare Advantage plan or a stand-alone drug plan, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. For 2027, the standard Part D deductible rises to $700, up from $615 in 2026, and the annual out-of-pocket cap for covered drugs rises to $2,400, up from $2,100. The national base beneficiary premium rises to $41.33, up from $38.99. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, a second window, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 through March 31, lets you switch to another Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare. That second window does not help anyone in Original Medicare who missed December 7, so the December deadline is the one that decides your 2027 coverage. T...

By Daniel Kim — practical knowledge for your wallet and everyday life. If you had Marketplace coverage in 2026 and do nothing, your plan will probably renew on its own — and in January you could face a higher premium, a smaller subsidy, or no subsidy at all. Benchmark Silver premiums rise 13% on average for 2027, after a 26% jump the year before, a two-year increase of 42%. The enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, so households above 400% of the federal poverty level — $63,840 for one person, $132,000 for a family of four — get no premium tax credit at all in 2027. The fix is to re-shop before December 15, 2026, the last day to enroll for coverage starting January 1, 2027. If your income is at or below 250% of poverty ($39,900 for one person), compare Silver plans first: cost-sharing reductions exist only on Silver. This post walks through the dates, the subsidy math, and the checklist for re-shopping before the deadline. Benchmark Silver premiums +13% for 202...

For 2026, a single filer whose modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) falls between $153,000 and $168,000 can make only a reduced direct Roth IRA contribution, and at $168,000 or above no direct contribution is allowed at all. For married couples filing jointly, the phase-out range is $242,000 to $252,000: below $242,000 you can contribute the full amount, inside the range your allowed contribution shrinks on a sliding scale, and at $252,000 or above the direct route is closed for the year. The test is year-by-year, so a lower-income year reopens it. If your income is too high, three routes still work: a backdoor Roth conversion through a Traditional IRA, a Roth 401(k) through your employer, which has no income limit, or waiting until your MAGI is final and contributing exactly what is allowed before the April 15, 2027 deadline. Contributing more than your reduced limit creates an excess contribution, taxed at 6 percent per year until it is fixed. $168,000 The MAGI at which a single...