New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks at Rochdale Village Community Center in Queens, New York, on April 5, 2021. Brendan McDermid | AFP | Getty Images The highest-earning New Yorkers are about to be hit with a tax hike. The New York state Senate and Assembly late Wednesday passed a $212 billion budget proposal after
Personal finance
antongvozdikov / 500px | 500Px Plus | Getty Images Some newlyweds get an unwelcome gift from the IRS: a bigger tax bill. While many couples end up paying less in taxes after tying the knot, some face a “marriage penalty” — that is, they end up paying more in taxes than if they had remained
HRAUN Linda, a lawyer from California who was laid off from her job in January, is like millions of others in the pandemic who are living without health insurance. But she discovered that the government would fully subsidize her COBRA health insurance premiums from April until September, thanks to a provision in the latest stimulus
Those armed with a newly minted diploma are entering a job market that suddenly looks a lot more promising than it did a year ago. Employers project hiring 7.2% more new college graduates from the Class of 2021 than they did from the Class of 2020, according to a report from the National Association of Colleges
Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a delay Wednesday to two debt-collection rules issued in the waning days of the Trump administration. Those rules broadly addressed how debt collectors may communicate with and make disclosures to consumers. Kathy Kraninger, the former CFPB head during the Trump administration, said the measures
Marcos Elihu Castillo Ramirez | iStock | Getty Images Considering a Medicare supplement plan, aka Medigap? Be sure to choose one based on more than just its cost. These policies, sold by private insurance companies, generally cover part or most cost-sharing — i.e., copays or deductibles — that comes with basic Medicare (Part A hospital
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is warning mortgage servicers that they’re expected to help the surge of struggling homeowners in the pandemic and explore options other than foreclosure. “Responsible servicers should be preparing now,” CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio said in a statement. “There is no time to
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images Around 1 in 10 people have fallen victim to gift card scams, according to a survey from AARP, the advocacy group for older Americans. In these scams, criminals convince targets that they need to purchase a gift card, sometimes called an electronic voucher, to pay bills,
The Inn of Rosslyn, which is permanently closed due to pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic, on Feb. 5, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia. Liu Jie/Xinhua via Getty Images Nearly a quarter of all unemployed workers in the U.S. have been out of work for at least a year, a stretch of joblessness dating to the early
fstop123 | Getty Images The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule Monday to prevent a wave of foreclosures this fall, when certain Covid-era protections for homeowners are set to expire. The proposal, which would need final approval, generally prohibits mortgage servicers from initiating foreclosure proceedings against delinquent borrowers until after Dec. 31, 2021. The
In this article IRSA3-AR Getty Images This year’s tax season has brought with it a new opportunity to collect any unpaid funds from previous rounds of federal stimulus checks. But the amount you claim could be adjusted by the IRS, the agency said on Monday. A new feature called a recovery rebate credit enables people
Jim McGuire | Getty Images When faced with a quiz on Social Security claiming rules, many people who are on the brink of retirement fail. MassMutual recently gave a 12-question true/false quiz to 1,500 people ages 55 to 65 who have not yet claimed their benefits. Just 3% of the respondents were able to answer
In this article TVAG-FF Drazen_ | E+ | Getty Images Now that spring has sprung and it looks as if an end to the pandemic might be in sight, many Americans are again planning vacations — and they’re booking beach destinations in a big way, says Trivago. The online global accommodations platform, based in Dusseldorf,
In this article ETSY Hispanolistic After a year of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of Americans are anxiously awaiting tax refunds from their 2020 returns. How they plan to use that chunk of money – which, for many, is the largest windfall they’ll see all year – is very different. Last year, the IRS sent nearly
In this article ESGEX IPX-GB US President Joe Biden speaks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 31, 2021. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images President Joe Biden’s infrastructure initiative — and the measures it contains to curb climate change — may be a tailwind for investors in so-called sustainable or ESG funds, according to financial
kate_sept2004 | E+ | Getty Images Many Americans will pocket some extra money this year and next courtesy of changes the American Rescue Plan made to a handful of tax credits. The $1.9 trillion Covid relief measure tweaked the child tax credit, earned income credit, and child and dependent care credit. The changes, especially those
US President Joe Biden speaks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 31, 2021. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images President Joe Biden has requested that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona prepare a report on the president’s legal authority to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt per borrower, White House chief of staff Ron Klain said
urbazon | E+ | Getty Images A big wad of debt owed to the IRS can be a soul-crushing burden, but the worst thing you can do is to ignore the issue. It will not go away. “It depends on the level of debt you have, but it can be overwhelming,” said Beverly Winstead, a
The days of working from home may numbered. While some companies, including JPMorgan Chase, Salesforce and PricewaterhouseCoopers, are dumping office space, others are ramping up their return-to-work plans. Just this week, Google, one of the first major U.S. companies to send employees home last year because of the coronavirus, told staffers it is accelerating
Morsa Images | E+ | Getty Images A new set of $1,400 stimulus checks may tempt some recipients who don’t really need the money to instead dabble in the stock market. Depending on your goals, a brokerage account may not be your best bet, some experts say. A third round of direct payments was authorized