Relief checks 2023 | Summary news 17 April
US Finance Feed: Latest Updates
- Tax deadline is tomorrow 18 April. You must file for an extension by then to avoid penalties
-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sees paths to "soft landing" for US economy.
- Mortgage rates drop for fifth consecutive week. 30-yr fixed-rate average at 6.27%
- Inflation rose 0.1 percent in March; housing was the primary driver of the increase.
- Federal Reservecould increase rates again as soon as early May
- Tax deadline extended in California after the state was battered by severe storms this winter
- Social Security and Medicare Trustees warn of respective funds depleted by 2031 and 2033
- Various states will continue to issue inflation relief checks and generous tax refunds in April
- Social Security April payment schedule: when can you expect your payment?
Related stories:
Wall Street sends slightly higher
Major US stock indexes posted modest gains on Monday, helped by financial and industrial shares, while investors braced for a heavy week of corporate results and comments from Federal Reserve officials that could give more insight into the path of interest rates.
Markets are gauging the health of corporate profits and the economy after several banks kicked off first-quarter reports with strong results last week.
Meanwhile, the New York Fed said its barometer of manufacturing activity in New York State increased for the first time in five months in April, helping solidify the case for the central bank to raise rates at its meeting next month.
"Markets are in a bit of a wait-and-see mode," said Angelo Kourkafas, an investment strategist at Edward Jones. "We have a lot of corporate earnings ahead of us and the Fed rate decision in a couple of weeks."
(REUTERS)
IRS urges taxpayers to pay electronically
If you are rushing to meet the April 18 deadline, the IRS recommends filing your return electronically.
The office reminds taxpayers that IRS.gov provides last-minute tax return filers with the resources they need to get taxes done on time.
The website has resources ranging from tax preparation and refund tracking to tax law research and business topics.
For last-minute filers, IRS Free File allows those who made $73,000 or less in 2022 to prepare and e-file tax returns for free. However, anyone can use IRS Free File to submit an extension of time to file regardless of their income.
The tax deadline is usually on April 15 for individuals in the United States, and it has been so since 1955. However, this date has sometimes changed, as it has this year, when taxpayers are given until the 18th to file their returns.
As this report tells us, this happened because of a weekend and a holiday.
IRS set to look into free electronic option to file tax returns
It’s that time of year when taxpayers are rushing to file their income tax returns before the deadline.
There could be a new, free option to prepare taxes in the future. The IRS has been tasked with looking into how to create a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system for all. But this doesn’t sit well with the big tax-prep companies, according to ABC News.
Congress has directed the IRS to report in on how such a system might work.
The order came as part of the $80 billion infusion of money for the tax agency over the next 10 years under the Democrats' flagship climate and health care measure, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, that President Joe Biden signed last summer. It gave the IRS nine months and $15 million to report in on how it might implement such a program and how much it would cost.
Next month, the IRS will release the first in a series of reports looking into how it might be done.
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Life insurance is one way by which people can provide financial protection for their loved ones after they pass away. Premiums can cost from hundreds to thousands of dollars a year, and unfortunately for taxpayers, they are generally not considered tax-deductible.
However, as this report tells us, there are some exceptions and special circumstances where life insurance premiums can be deducted from your taxable income.
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Every year, millions of Americans are required to file a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Although the vast majority of organizations and workers will go through the process of submitting a return, there are a few groups that are not required to report their income to the IRS. We took a look at these groups...
The federal government offers the American opportunity tax credit (AOTC) to students completing their first four years of higher education.
As the price of higher education continues to rise, the AOTC can provide some relief to students and their families in need of support.
Read our full coverage for details on who is eligible to claim the credit and how it can be claimed.
Those looking to file an extension with the IRS to postpone their tax filing deadline must do so fast!
The deadline is Tuesday, 18 April, and if an extension is filed, it will be moved to 16 October. However, those who request an extension should be aware that it only applies to filing their return and not to the payment of any taxes that are owed.
Read more on where to send the form and instructions on how to file for an extension online.
The Internal Revenue Service gives individuals and businesses until 18 April to file their tax forms and pay any taxes due. However, sometimes a little more time is needed but depending on what kind of filer you are, and the type of extension needed the IRS provides specific forms.
In the case of businesses that need an extension to report certain business income tax or information as well as other returns, they can use IRS Form 7004 “Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns” to request an automatic 6-month extension. The agency no longer informs the company that the extra time has been granted, but only contacts the applicant when the extension has been disallowed.
Read more on how to submit the form in our full coverage.
A study published by researchers at Circuit, a company focused on last-minute deliveries, found a growing dissatisfaction among delivery workers in the United States.
The workers surveyed hailed from different parts of the country and were employed by various companies. Of the nearly 1,000 workers surveyed, 80 percent said that they felt they were underpaid, with employees from Grubhub (92 percent), DHL (91 percent), and Post Mates (88 percent) reporting these sentiments at the highest levels. Around 15 percent of workers reported that they had already taken on a second job, and 77 percent of those surveyed said they were planning to take another on.
Read our full coverage for details on the study and for recent updates on the contract negotiations between UPS executives and the Teamsters.
Filing out tax forms can be complicated and while the Internal Revenue Service has expanded its chest of online tools filers can use, sometimes you need to speak to a real person. Fortunately, the IRS has beefed up its staffing ahead of the 2023 tax season to help with those inquiries over the phone.
This year, the SSA applied an 8.7 percent Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase to American benefits. The COLA is calculated each year to help payments maintain their purchasing power with inflation, which has been particularly high the last 18 months.
Once the COLA was applied, the average retiree payment increased to about $1,830 a month. However, some are set to receive more than $4,000. Let’s see who qualifies.
If you’re one of the over 101 million people who hasn’t filed your 2022 tax return to the IRS and don’t think that you’ll be able to get your declaration in by Tuesday 18 April, then you better get moving to apply for a six-month extension. If you haven’t already, you have until then to request more time to get your papers together to avoid a late filing fee.
Three in every four tax filers in the United States receive a refund each year. At the IRS, tax returns are processed on a first-come-first-served basis but with just days left to file it is crucial to submit our 2022 declaration now.
The IRS has sent out over 69 million refunds this year for a total of nearly $199 billion. If you're wondering where your refund is, the IRS has a tool called ‘Where’s My Refund?’ that allows taxpayers to check the status of their refund
The deadline to submit 2022 income tax declarations is fast approaching. Most US taxpayers must turn in their returns and pay any taxes they owe by Tuesday 18 April. Those that need more time can file for can apply for a six-month extension with the IRS. Although, you will still need to pay any outstanding taxes by the April deadline unless otherwise informed.
There are, however, some taxpayers that have been given an automatic extension.
Cheif economist at Moody's Analytics: "The Fed should pause rate hikes. Now."
In December, the FOMC projected that the median Federal Funds Rate (FFR) in 2023 would be 4.6 percent. This projection was revised in March, with the FOMC projecting the FRR to hoover between 5.1 and 5.6 percent in 2023. After the Federal Reserve pushed up rates twenty-five basis points in late March, they currently stand between 4.50 and 5.0 percent.
No rate increases are planned for April, but another round could come as early as 3 May.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, argues that the Fed should pause rate hikes now. While getting inflation back to the central bank’s target of 2% should be their goal, he says that appears to be happening. Were policymakers to overshoot, it could spark a recession.
The United States offers a number of social programs to aid low-income residents, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which focuses on food assistance.
SNAP is a federal program run by the US Department of Agriculture but administered by the states who usually depend on county governments to enroll beneficiaries and manage the program. Households receiving SNAP are sent an EBT card, which functions like a debit card, and each month money is added to an account associated with the card that can only be used to purchase certain food and household products. The amount varies depending on the number of people who live in the home and the state in which the beneficiary lives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government approved an increase of $95 for SNAP recipients to better provide crisis relief. However, this increase ended on 1 March after almost three years. As inflation continues to drive up food prices, these dollars are sorely missed by many households enrolled in SNAP.
Read our full coverage for details on which SNAP beneficiaries will see a small increase in their benefit amount.
Millions of families qualified for EITC in 2022, a nearly $7,000 tax credit
The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable credit, meaning that once taxes owed are accounted for the remainder gets added onto a tax refund. The credit could be worth up to almost $7,000, but the amount varies depending on earnings and the size of the taxpayer's family.
Last year, the Internal Revenue Services reports that "as of December 2022, 31 million workers and families received about $64 billion in EITC. The average amount of EITC received nationwide was about $2,043."
When filing a 2022 tax return, Americans would be well advised to examine the Earned Income Tax Credit which can provide a major boost to one’s tax refund.
As the April 18 tax deadline approaches, AS USA takes a look at two common mistakes that US taxpayers really want to avoid when filing their federal returns.
If you need more time to file your federal tax return, you can request an extension to avoid incurring penalty charges.
Claim your tax refund or forfeit it to the Treasury
The IRS gives taxpayers three years from the relevant Tax Day to claim a tax refund from the agency. This is the last year to claim a refund from 2019 if you had money that was owed to you but you failed to file a tax return. The IRS is holding onto an estimated $1.5 billion that went unclaimed.
Normally, that would be 18 April but due to the extension given during the covid-19 pandemic in 2019 taxpayers will have until 17 July 2023. After that date any money that was owed to you will be gone forever and put in the US Treasury coffers.
Digging through the sofa to find some spare change? Well you might be able to get a lot more than a few coins. The IRS announced that nearly 1.5 million people across the country have unclaimed refunds for tax year 2019.
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Last year, prices began to rise rapidly, and to support residents in combat inflation, various states began sending out relief checks. Although inflationary pressure in the market has weakened in recent months, the delivery of support will continue in April.
Read our full coverage for details on which residents can expect a check or refund.
I do think there’s a path to bring down inflation while maintaining what I think all of us would regard is a strong labor market. And the evidence that I’m seeing suggests we are on that path.
Are there risks? Of course. I don’t want to downplay the risks here, but I do think that’s possible.
Prices slowed their growth in March, only rising 0.1 percent, bringing the year-over-year change in the CPI down from six to five percent. Housing continued to be a major driver of inflation, a worry for some economists who predict that higher rates could continue to push home prices up.
Combined with the increases seen in January and February, inflation has officially hit one percent this year. Markets are likely to respond positively, given the newest report is a major sign that inflationary pressure may be disapating.
Read more on which goods and prices saw changes in their price in March in our full coverage.
The Child Tax Credit has gone through several changes since its inception in 1997. Back then eligible taxpayers could only claim $400 per eligible child. The credit was seen as a way to help fight childhood poverty, but the restrictions for claiming the credit saw those it was intended for rarely have access to it.
That radically changed in 2021 when the American Rescue Plan (ARP) supercharged the credit, more than doubling the refundable amount for certain children. In fact the whole credit was fully refundable, which meant that even those with no earned income were eligible.
Unfortunately for many families those changes expired when Congress failed to pass an extension of the one-year experiment that is credited having slashed poverty for its brief tenure.
Busting tax-filing myths
The IRS has put together an info sheet debunking a few myths that surround taxes in the US - such as the claim that you don't have to report income if you haven't received a Form 1099-K.
Welcome to AS USA’s live blog on the latest financial news
There’re just one day to go before the 18 April deadline to file your tax returns. We'll give you some reminders and tips to help the process go smoothly.
Plus we will give you the latest figures on the economy after more inflation data was released this past week and other financial news.