Year: 2026

IRS Raises Mileage Rates Midyear: What You Need to Know

For the first time since 2022, the IRS is changing standard mileage rates in the middle of the tax year. If you track business, medical or moving miles, this matters. Starting July 1, 2026, the numbers go up, and your recordkeeping needs…

4 min read

IRS Raises Mileage Rates Midyear, IRS Raises Mileage Rates 2026For the first time since 2022, the IRS is changing standard mileage rates in the middle of the tax year. If you track business, medical or moving miles, this matters. Starting July 1, 2026, the numbers go up, and your recordkeeping needs to get more precise.

What Changed and Why

The IRS bumped the business mileage rate from 72.5 cents to 76 cents per mile for travel on or after July 1, 2026. Medical and moving rates rose from 20.5 cents to 23.5 cents. The charitable rate stays put at 14 cents, where it has been stuck since 1998.

The trigger was fuel prices. When the IRS set the original 2026 rates back in December, gas was averaging about $2.89 per gallon nationally. By mid-July 2026, AAA reported the average had climbed to roughly $3.87, an increase of 34 percent. Much of that spike traces back to the war in Iran and uncertainty around oil production and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The last time the IRS made a midyear adjustment was 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine and gas prices surged past $5 per gallon in some markets.

Two Sets of Rates for One Year

This creates a split year for mileage calculations. Miles driven from January 1 through June 30 use the original rates. Miles driven on or after July 1 use the revised rates. If you drove 4,000 medical miles before July and another 4,000 after, you would calculate them separately: $820 for the first half at 20.5 cents, $940 for the second half at 23.5 cents.

The same logic applies to employer reimbursements. The new rates kick in only when both the expense and the reimbursement occur on or after July 1. Employers running accountable plans should review their policies to make sure they are applying the correct rate based on when the travel happened and when the payment goes out.

Why the Rates Differ by Category

The business rate is higher because it accounts for both fixed and variable costs of operating a vehicle: depreciation, insurance, maintenance, tires, gas and oil. Medical and moving rates cover only variable costs, which is why they sit lower.

The charitable rate is a different animal entirely. Congress set it by statute, and it has not budged in nearly three decades. Adjusted for inflation, 14 cents from 1998 would be closer to 29 cents today.

Who Can Actually Use These Rates

Here is where it gets narrower than many taxpayers expect. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses starting in 2018, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made that change permanent. Most employees cannot write off business mileage whether their employer reimburses them or not.

Moving expense deductions are similarly limited. Only active duty military members moving under orders for a permanent change of station qualify, along with certain intelligence community members under rules effective for 2026.

Charitable mileage requires itemizing, which means it only helps if your total deductions exceed the standard deduction of $16,100 for single filers or $32,200 for married couples filing jointly. Many taxpayers skip it.

Self-employed individuals and business owners get the most benefit from the business rate since they can still deduct qualifying mileage on Schedule C.

Recordkeeping Just Got Harder

Normally, tracking mileage means logging dates, destinations, miles driven, and business purpose. This year, you also need to note which side of July 1 the expense falls on. A mileage app can help, but a notebook or spreadsheet works, too.

If you use a vehicle exclusively for business, beginning and end-of-year odometer readings establish total mileage. Photos can serve as backup. If you mix business and personal use, your records need to clearly separate the two.

Conclusion

Gas prices forced the IRS’s hand, and now 2026 has two mileage rate regimes. The math is not complicated, but the documentation requirements are tighter than usual. Know when your miles were driven, keep clean records and make sure your employer’s reimbursement policies reflect the July 1 cutoff. The details matter this year more than most.

Understanding the Exchange Ratio

With more than $57 trillion in mergers and acquisitions, according to the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions & Alliances, understanding…

3 min read

Understanding the Exchange RatioWith more than $57 trillion in mergers and acquisitions, according to the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions & Alliances, understanding how the Exchange Ratio works is essential for businesses and investors to maximize these processes.

The ratio assesses how many shares the company that’s purchasing the takeover company must issue per share of the takeover business. Transactions that use shares for part or whole of the payment are able to leverage this integral benchmark. It’s important to keep in mind that the exchange ratio may provide parties helpful insight on transactions involving all or part equity, but it won’t be beneficial for all cash deals.

The formula to calculate the ratio is as follows:  

Exchange Ratio = Offer Price for Target’s Shares / Acquirer’s Share Price

Looking at the acquiring firm’s and the target or acquired firm’s share prices illustrates the exchange ratio. If the target firm has 30,000 shares outstanding and trades at $34.60, and the acquiring firm offers to pay a 20 percent takeover, it results in a share price of $41.52 per share. The acquiring firm’s share price currently trades at $23.50.

Putting the formula into practice, it’s as follows:

= $41.52 / $23.50

= 1.77

Based on the resulting Exchange Ratio of 1.77, the acquiring firm must issue 1.77 shares of its equity for each share of the target firm it wants to acquire.

For transactions with different proportions of cash and stock, the percentage of stock is what’s factored into the exchange ratio. Deals conducted with 100 percent stock provide the most value to an exchange ratio.   

Real World Example

If an acquiring business offers the acquisition target two of its shares for a single share of the acquired company, the deal can take the following circumstances. Before the deal announcement, the purchasing company’s shares might be trading at $20, with the target company’s shares trading at $30. With a 2-to-1 exchange ratio, the purchaser is bidding $40 for the seller’s share at $30.

After the deal announcement, there’s usually a valuation difference between buyer and seller due to the time value of money and risks. Risks include potentially being blocked by regulators, shareholder rejection or changing economic conditions. One important consideration is that merger arbitration may occur by investors when they try to get ahead of a deal ultimately completing before the uncertainty is removed.

If the deal ultimately closes, and investors get two buyer shares in exchange for one seller share and the acquiring company’s share increases to $37 from $30, investors who bet against the buyer’s stock via short-selling will be rewarded a difference of $3 per share (2 shares from the acquiring company 2 X $20 = $40 minus the $37 single share price of the target company). Investors who close out their short position will see the difference from the seller’s price for a profit. This tactic is frequently executed by opportunistic investors who have no direct interest in owning the equity, but only for a trade.

While each deal is different, understanding the process is essential to break down the internal details for all interested merger and acquisition parties. 

Travel Companions: How to Share Expenses

No matter how well you know someone, you usually learn a lot more once you’ve traveled with them. We are all different in this activity, from people who prefer aisle seats over window seats, to Airbnb renters or hotel…

5 min read

Travel Companions: How to Share ExpensesNo matter how well you know someone, you usually learn a lot more once you’ve traveled with them. We are all different in this activity, from people who prefer aisle seats over window seats, to Airbnb renters or hotel enthusiasts, to the outdoorsy versus museum aficionados.

Friendship compatibility does not always translate to travel compatibility. Therefore, before you load up the car or board public transportation, it will help to communicate preferences, establish a few ground rules, and, perhaps most importantly, decide how to share expenses.

There are plenty of advantages to traveling with another person or a group of people, even if you tend to be a loner. For example, sharing expenses for accommodations, a car rental, or even a bottle of wine over dinner can cut your vacation budget substantially. However, if you don’t have a plan for what expenses to share and how to track them, you may return home short-changed, resentful, and with one less person in your life.

Ground Rules

It’s important to gauge upfront if everyone is on the same page as to how much money they want to spend on the trip, and even establish a maximum budget so no one gets trapped into paying more than they can afford. This means determining the level of accommodations (e.g., luxury versus budget-friendly) to shop for, whether or not you want the option to cook meals as opposed to eating out all the time, and the main activities the group plans to engage in (e.g., free hiking versus expensive snow skiing). Establish what types of expenses will be shared, such as group meals, housing and car rental, and what will be paid for individually, such as airfare, solo outings and souvenirs.

Choose Your Tracking Method

There are two approaches for sharing the expenses of travel: Wing it or track it. Winging implies a more casual tactic. For example, one person picks up the hotel room tab, another pays for the rental car, another pays for meals. Perhaps you rotate or take turns picking up comparable bills. The goal is to generally spread expenses evenly across all payers, but winging it may lead to one (or more) travelers paying more while the other(s) pay less. If everyone agrees their outlays may differ, then this tactic will probably work just fine.

Tracking Tools

The second approach is to track all shared expenses with some degree of accuracy. This is easier if all expenses are shared evenly, but more complex if expenses need to be broken down into who ordered a salad and who ordered the filet mignon.

Fortunately, there is a plethora of electronic technologies and digital tools designed to make it easier to track travel expenses and ensure no one overpays – right down to the penny.

PayPal, Venmo, Zelle – These services make it easy to send or request money using apps. They may require travelers to keep receipts and calculate individual tabs, then settle up at the end of the day or the end of the trip. This tactic can be a little unwieldy, and may require manual tracking to ensure no one is paying too much or too little along the way. All travelers should sign up for at least one compatible money transfer app; they are generally free to use.

Splitwise – This app enables participants in a travel group to enter the expenses they paid by adding the names of the participants and breaking down the individual amounts each person contributed to each bill. The app tracks expenses by person, then tallies up who owes money at the end. Splitwise calculates who owes whom. Travelers can then settle balances using their preferred payment method, such as PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, bank transfer, cash, or another supported payment service. Splitwise is just one brand name of many apps that work similarly, including Tricount and Revolut.

Cino – This app works a bit differently in that each traveler links it to their personal credit or debit card, and the group Cino card is loaded into Apple Pay or Google Pay. Then all participants share a virtual card to pay for expenses, which divides each payment at the point of purchase among the participants for that expense. When one person pays for an expense, everyone’s share is automatically charged to each member’s connected credit or debit account. Note that Cino does not break down invoices by line item to track exactly who ate what; it follows a split ratio (e.g., 50%-50%) as determined up front by the group.

Artificial Intelligence – Travelers may want to give AI a try, where as they start with a prompt asking the service to track and split group expenses, then enter the names of participants and related expenses to the prompt on an ongoing basis. AI tools can organize, categorize, and calculate shared expenses that users enter manually. Some AI assistants may also summarize spending trends or generate settlement calculations, but they generally do not automatically track purchases unless integrated with financial apps.

Given today’s higher prices, group travel is becoming more prevalent as a way to share the cost of vacation. According to a 2025 Zeta Global survey, 40 percent of travelers are going on trips with family while 21 percent opt to vacation with friends. Today’s new digital tools make it easy to track and share expenses so that you don’t strain relationships with travel companions.

Ready to Set Your Q4 Financial Goals?

Surprising at it may seem, Q4 is at your doorstep, knocking and asking for attention. What’s more, it’s that time of year when everything starts getting busy: kids go back to school, football starts…

4 min read

Set Your Q4 Financial GoalsSurprising as it may seem, Q4 is at your doorstep, knocking and asking for attention. What’s more, it’s that time of year when everything starts getting busy: kids go back to school, football starts, and then the holidays are just up ahead. During this time, you might also be hearing “cha-ching, cha-ching” as what lies ahead can be financially challenging. Consider a few ways to frame this and strategies to set up goals as you bring the year to a close.

Map out the big picture. While all the things in your immediate future might be at the forefront of your mind, take a step back. What’s your five-year vision? Where are you with your big life goals? Do they include saving for a down payment for a house, a dream vacay, or setting up a college fund for your kids? Decide on completion dates and work backward. What needs to happen for these things to become realities?

Focus on the next 90 days. Now you can get a bit more granular. What’s looming in the future, before the year ends? What are your holiday plans? Usually this involves expenses (travel and food). Brainstorm about how to economize. Can you cost-share with family and friends? (Thinking here about your five-year vision.) What about your home and cars? Do they need work, and what might you spend? Do you have an emergency fund to help with all this? If you don’t, start one! Keep all of these things in mind as you make your way toward next year and beyond.

Set up a tracker. It can be an Excel spreadsheet, a notebook, or a whiteboard – whatever works for you. Color code different milestones and then brainstorm (yes, again) to see how you can reach these goals. Do you need to cut expenses in some areas? Pick up a side hustle? Purge your closet (house, too), and sell some things? To get started, here are a few tracker templates to kick things off.

Create SMART goals. You might have heard of this acronym, but it stands for:

  • Specific: Needs to be concrete, not vague.
  • Measurable: Must be specific dollar amounts.
  • Attainable: Within your budget but still challenging.
  • Relevant: Aligned with your five-year goals, your future dreams.
  • Time-bound: Hard deadlines.

Separate your goals into buckets. Those would be long-, medium-, and short-term.

Long-term: This is 5-plus years. Early retirement by XX years old with a specific amount of money in the bank. Paying off your house by a certain date. Having a certain amount of cash saved for your kiddos after you’re gone.

Medium-term: This is 1-5 years. The usual suspects include paying off your car, student loans, consumer debt, or even building up a (dollar amount goes here) reserve for a down payment on a house or second property.

Short-term goals and quarterly goals: This is less than 1 year – hot items you cannot ignore. Starting, or adding to, your emergency fund that will equal, let’s say, $5,000. Or, for instance, saving $8,000 for a family vacation. You can also look at these small goals as subsets of larger goals: paying off X% of your house or car note by a certain date.

In sum, all of the above are simple ways to wrap your head around how to navigate Q4 financial goals – and beyond – by carving them up into smaller, digestible steps. If you can get organized, take on the last half of the year with intention, and make some real progress, there’s nothing in the (fiscal) world you can’t accomplish if you set your mind to it.

Sources

https://www.heliodorpress.com/articles/fourth-quarter-financial-goals

The Death of the App: Why Your Business Will Sideline SaaS Dashboards

For two decades, enterprise software has been built around a simple assumption: people log into multiple applications to retrieve information, make decisions and complete work. A CRM, a project tracker, a business intelligence…

4 min read

Sideline SaaS DashboardsFor two decades, enterprise software has been built around a simple assumption: people log into multiple applications to retrieve information, make decisions, and complete work. A CRM, a project tracker, a business intelligence dashboard, a support ticketing system, and more. All this is because these applications operate in isolation.

There is a shift whose intention is not eliminating SaaS applications. It’s about eliminating the need to constantly switch between them.

Why Dashboards Existed

Dashboards were built because software couldn’t interpret business intent. Humans had to retrieve, interpret charts, and decide what to do next. While dashboards were designed for human navigation, these static SaaS front ends are being replaced by dynamic, real-time interface synthesis.

The dashboard model worked when companies relied on a handful of applications. Today, enterprises manage hundreds of SaaS tools. An average large enterprise runs multiple SaaS applications – about 291 with large organizations scaling over 400. This makes constant switching a productivity problem rather than convenience.

A Harvard Business Review study revealed that digital workers toggle between different applications and websites about 1,200 times a day. This tool-switching alone costs employees an average of 44 hours per year due to tool fatigue. Meanwhile, most of the enterprise SaaS stack goes completely unused, and this is a weighty business cost.

What is Actually Changing

The shift in business computing is not about adding another dashboard to the stack, but rather usurping its purpose. The enterprise interface is beginning to shift toward intent-native workspaces, reducing the need to navigate traditional dashboards for routine work.

In comes agentic AI, which collapses the decision chain. Instead of opening a chart to figure out what it means, the user states an intent and an agent queries the underlying systems directly, synthesizes across them, and gives the user an answer or takes the action itself. For example, instead of a user logging into five different systems, a finance agent pulls real-time vendor invoices from an ERP, a legal agent scans contract terms, and a risk agent cross-references historical delivery delays. All coordinated by an orchestration layer.

Generative user interface (GenUI) technology pairs with this orchestration. Instead of presenting the same dashboard to everyone, a GenUI system generates a temporary interface tailored to the user’s immediate request. Once the task is complete, that interface disappears. If a user inputs their intention, such as checking which supplier poses a risk, the system dynamically renders a clean, interactive panel showing only the relevant vendor risk scores.

A survey by CrewAI on 2026 State of Agentic AI Survey found that adoption of agentic AI is moving fast. Of the 500 senior enterprise executives surveyed, 65 percent are already using AI agents, 81 percent have fully adopted and are actively scaling, and 100 percent plan to expand agentic AI use in 2026.

What Still Matters

Dashboards aren’t disappearing; their role is changing. The shift is not toward a better dashboard; it is to create systems that decide and act directly, with humans overseeing outcomes and not every step. Modern AI-driven operations demand speed that previous tools can’t cope with. Having insights without action is now a bottleneck. Static views, manual interpretation, and the lack of proactive alerts and personalized framing are limitations that drive the shift toward agents.

However, while agentic AI determines what happens next, the dashboards will keep documenting the process. They will also exist mainly as audit trails and compliance records, but not as the primary way work gets done.

What This Means for Your Business

For businesses evaluating software, appearance is becoming less important than accessibility. A polished dashboard matters little if AI agents can’t access its data or trigger actions. As enterprises increasingly rely on AI agents to automate work across multiple systems, software without strong AI integration risks becoming difficult to use, costly to upgrade, and easier to replace.

Logistically, this means businesses should start auditing their software stack for API maturity and AI agent readiness. Before renewing or purchasing new software contracts, a business should evaluate whether the platform has robust APIs, allows AI agents to securely access its data and perform actions, and is built to support an AI-driven workflow.

Conclusion

The biggest disruption is not the end of SaaS dashboards – it’s the end of software that waits for human input. The next generation of enterprise software won’t compete on who has the prettiest dashboard. It will compete on which platform gives AI agents the fastest, safest access to data and actions. Businesses that continue buying interfaces instead of intelligent access may soon find themselves paying for software no one opens.

Extending Daylight Hours, Protecting Cultural Livelihoods and Making Local Banking Easier

Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (HR 139) – The purpose of this legislation is to make daylight savings time (DST) permanent for most of the country. States…

3 min read

Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (HR 139)Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (HR 139) – The purpose of this legislation is to make daylight savings time (DST) permanent for most of the country. States and territories presently exempt from DST may choose the standard time for those areas. This latest version of the bill was introduced by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) on Jan. 3, 2025. The Act passed in the House on July 14 and faces a mix of cross-aisle opposition and support in the Senate.

Lulu’s Law (S 1003) – Introduced on March 12, 2025, by Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), this Act authorizes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue emergency alerts to mobile phones in the event of a shark attack (similar to other alerts, such as severe weather, missing children, etc.). The bill passed in the Senate on July 8, 2025, in the House on May 20 and was signed into law on June 26.

Artist Act (S 254) – The Artist Act amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 by prohibiting states from imposing bans specifically on Alaska Native handicrafts and marine mammal ivory products. The bill is designed to protect the cultural practices and livelihood of Native American artists that create handicrafts and clothing using marine mammal ivory, bone or baleen. Introduced by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) on Jan. 24, 2025, the bill passed in the Senate on Oct. 8, 2025, and in the House on June 3. It was enacted by the president on June 12.

A bill to amend chapters 83 and 84 of title 5, United States Code, to authorize an increase of the retirement age for members of the Capitol Police (S 4530) – Prior to this amendment, members of the Capitol Police were required to retire either at age 57 or, if older than 57, upon completing 20 years of service. A previous waiver enabled officers to continue working until age 60. This bill increases the retirement age to between ages 57 and 62, when such a waiver is in the public interest. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on May 14. It passed in the Senate on May 15, the House on May 19, and became law on May 29.

American Access to Banking Act (HR 4544) – This law is designed to increase the number of community banks by making it easier to start them. Introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) on July 17, 2025, it passed 405-4 in the House on May 20 and is currently under consideration in the Senate.

Community Bank Deposit Access Act of 2025 (HR 5317) – This bill would create exemptions to FDIC rules that allow banks greater flexibility in funding loans. Specifically, the Act would alter how certain types of deposits are treated so they are no longer classified as brokered deposits. The legislation was introduced by Rep. French Hill (R-AR) on Sept. 11, 2025. It passed in the House on May 20 and currently resides in the Senate.

Understanding Depreciation Recapture

This accounting and tax method refers to a treatment used by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain tax remittances on sales of depreciated property. Understanding how it works is essential for filers to make the most of it…

3 min read

What is Depreciation RecaptureThis accounting and tax method refers to a treatment used by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain tax remittances on sales of depreciated property. Understanding how it works is essential for filers to make the most of it.

Required Conditions

As property depreciates, its value declines. When depreciated assets are sold, it’s able to be filed as ordinary income as long as the transaction’s price is above the property’s adjusted cost basis. The gap between the sales price and its adjusted cost basis must be filed as a component of the individual’s ordinary income.

Defining Adjusted Cost Basis

Adjusted Cost Basis = Asset’s Purchase Price + Improvements – Depreciation Deductions

Per Internal Revenue Code Section 1016, this calculation factors in both lower depreciation rates and improvement additions, resulting in the asset’s net cost.

Illustrating Adjusted Cost Basis

If an asset purchase price is $75,000, and it’s depreciated annually over six years, its adjusted cost basis is as follows: $75,000 – ($3,000 x 6) = $57,000.

If, however, the asset is sold for less compared to its adjusted cost basis, the transaction’s gain should be filed as a capital gain and not ordinary income. When it comes to calculating depreciation recapture, the adjusted cost basis is incorporated into the calculation as follows:  

Property Acquisition Cost: $750,000

Six annual deductions for depreciation: $7,000

Amount the assets are sold for in year 7: $740,000

Tax Rate of 25 percent for depreciation recapture

20 percent tax rate of capital gains

Therefore, adjusted cost basis equals = $750,000 – ($7,000 x 6) = $708,000

When calculating the gain on the sale, the resulting amount is calculated as follows:

= $740,000 – $708,000 = $32,000

Based on the owner(s) of the assets, the $32,000 will be reported as ordinary income. The depreciation recapture tax of 25 percent on the $32,000 will be $8,000 ($32,000 x 25 percent).

Be mindful if the $32,000 is more than the full depreciation deductions filed for by the taxpayer, the depreciation recapture will match how much depreciation is deducted and must be taxed as ordinary income. The balance will be taxed as a capital gain.

Assume everything from the first calculation is the same, but now the same asset is sold for $940,000.

Property Acquisition Cost: $750,000

Six annual deductions for depreciation: $7,000

Amount the asset is sold for in year 7: $940,000

Tax Rate of 25 percent for depreciation recapture

20 percent tax rate of capital gains

The adjusted cost basis will remain $708,000

In this example, since the asset owner’s gain is $190,000 ($940,000 – $750,000), only the depreciation deduction of $42,000 ($7,000 x 6 years of depreciation) will be reported as ordinary income since it’s the complete sum of the depreciation deductions. The balance of $148,000 ($190,000 – $42,000) will be taxed at the capital gains rate. The calculations for taxes are calculated as follows:

Depreciation recapture: $42,000 x 25 percent = $10,500

Capital gains calculation: $148,000 x 20 percent = $29,600

Additional Considerations

It’s important to consider that if an asset has been held for fewer than 12 months, gains from property sales are taxed as ordinary income. Depending on the circumstances, if an asset is sold for a loss, depreciation recapture isn’t applicable; however, Internal Revenue Code Section 1231 may provide exceptions to treat it as an ordinary loss tax treatment.

While each business’ transactions are different, when the entity is eligible, it can provide another way to navigate their federal taxes efficiently. As always, contact a professional for more personalized guidance.

Supreme Court Will Decide What Homeowners Are Owed When Tax Sale Erases Equity

A county in Michigan was owed about $2,200 in back taxes. To collect it, the government took a home worth close to $200,000, auctioned it for a fraction of that, and called the matter settled. The family is now putting a simple…

4 min read

Supreme Court Will Decide What Homeowners Are Owed When Tax Sale Erases EquityA county in Michigan was owed about $2,200 in back taxes. To collect it, the government took a home worth close to $200,000, auctioned it for a fraction of that, and called the matter settled. The family is now putting a simple question to the Supreme Court: when the state sells your house over a small debt, does it owe you the real worth of what it took or only whatever the auction happened to fetch?

The Rule that is Already on the Books

Three years ago, the court drew a clear line. Geraldine Tyler, then in her 90s, had let a $2,311 levy on a Minneapolis condo balloon to about $15,000 once penalties and interest stacked up. Hennepin County took the unit, found a buyer at $40,000, and held onto all of it. By any fair reckoning, the $25,000 above her debt was Tyler’s money – even though the county walked away with it. Minnesota law blessed that, as did 11 other states and the District of Columbia, plus nine more states under narrower terms.

A unanimous court ended the practice. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that a government can sell property to satisfy a tax debt but cannot help itself to more than the debt is worth. Leftover equity belongs to the owner, and a state cannot dodge that by defining the property interest away.

The Question Tyler Left Hanging

Tyler was tidy because the surplus was undeniable. Subtract a debt near $15,000 from a $40,000 sale, and the leftover is beyond dispute. The justices never had to confront the messier case where the sale price itself is artificially low. If a forced auction brings in far less than a home would fetch on the open market, is that depressed number really the measure of what the owner lost?

That is the gap, and tax auctions are where it opens. Unlike an ordinary listing, these sales draw a thin crowd of investors and speculators, and the government has little reason to chase top dollar. A county could therefore obey Tyler to the letter, hand back every cent of the auction surplus, and still watch most of a family’s equity vanish.

How the Pung Family Got Here

Three-and-a-half decades ago, Timothy Scott Pung paid $125,000 for a roughly 3,000-square-foot house in Isabella County, and for years it carried Michigan’s Principal Residence Exemption. Scott died in 2004, and his wife in 2008. Their son Marc stayed on, assuming the exemption rolled forward without any new filing. The assessor saw it otherwise and stripped the break retroactively. Marc fought back, and a state tax tribunal agreed no further paperwork had ever been required.

The assessor would not let it go. Over a shortfall of $2,241.93, on a place the county itself pegged at $194,400, the family was thrown out, and the home went under the hammer for $76,000. Nobody disputes that the estate is owed the surplus. The quarrel is how to measure it. Isabella County treats the surplus as the hammer price minus the debt, leaving about $74,000. The estate says the yardstick should be the home’s true market value minus the debt, pushing the number toward $194,400. The spread tops $100,000.

Bigger Than One House

The stakes reach far past Michigan. Minnesota alone moved more than 4,300 properties through these sales between 2014 and 2020. Across the 1,200-plus that were family homes, the typical owner lost some 92 percent of the equity above the debt, averaging around $207,000 against bills averaging just $17,000. In the nation’s capital, a veteran with dementia lost a $200,000 home over $133.88.

There is a second front, too. The estate contends the foreclosure worked as an excessive fine barred by the Eighth Amendment, a theory the lower court waved off as ordinary tax collection but one that Justices Gorsuch and Jackson have flagged for review.

Argument wrapped on Feb. 25 with a ruling likely any day now. The court has already said the government cannot keep more than it is owed. Now it must decide whether that shield covers only the cash left after the gavel, or the equity that vanished before.

Tips for Early Retirement Planning

Tips for Early Retirement Planning

5 min read

Tips for Early Retirement PlanningRetirement planning starts with retirement spending. Ideally, retirees are mortgage-free and relatively debt-free before they leave the working life behind. In retirement, a key strategy is to maintain low monthly staple expenses.

Therefore, if you want to devise a financial plan that will allow you to retire early, consider cutting back your basic household expenses a year or more before your target retirement date. Some retirees choose to downsize their home, which also tends to reduce property taxes, homeowner’s insurance and maintenance costs.

Also, use that time to shop for cable, internet, or cell phone plans that may be cheaper and suit your needs in retirement. Be aware that seniors often get additional discounts they may not be aware of, so be sure to explore those options. By reducing your pre-retirement cost of living, you can reduce the amount of income you’ll need after you retire.

Build up Coffers

Another way to plan for retirement is to increase your savings while still earning income. You should have more than the typical emergency fund when you retire – so you won’t deplete it before you die. You also don’t want to have to take large, unscheduled withdrawals from retirement accounts because that would deplete your principal and potentially reduce the ongoing income you receive from those sources.

Social Security

Remember that if you start taking benefits before your official retirement age, you will lock into a lower payout level for the rest of your life. So even if you can afford to retire early, it’s generally a good idea to hold off tapping Social Security until full retirement age or even up until age 70, when you earn additional income credits. Factors to consider in making this decision include your health and life expectancy, needs for income, and other retirement assets. Remember, Social Security will last the rest of your life with cost-of-living increases and no investment market risk, so it is one income source you should wait to maximize as long as you can.

By establishing an account at the Social Security website, you can check your benefit amount at various ages based on current earnings; these projections are updated every year. If you are married, consider both spouses’ benefits as it might be better to start one early while allowing the other benefit to accrue.

Pension

If you expect a pension from your employer, you can request projected payouts to help devise your early retirement plan. If you have the option to receive either annuity payments or a lump-sum distribution, you might want to consult with a financial advisor to determine your best option within the context of your entire portfolio of assets.

Investment Accounts

If you have a 401(k), 403(b), or traditional IRA, remember that once you turn 73, you must begin required minimum distributions if you haven’t already. As a general rule, the common strategy for drawing down invested assets in retirement is to use taxable accounts first, tax-deferred accounts second, and tax-free accounts (e.g., Roth IRA) last. Roth IRAs do not require distributions at any age and can continue to grow throughout retirement.

Rule of 55

There is a legal strategy for tapping 401(k) or 403(b) retirement funds before the age of 59½ without incurring a penalty. The Rule of 55 enables you to make a series of substantially equal periodic payments from a former employer’s retirement plan (not a rollover account) between the ages of 55 (50 for a government defined-benefit plan) and 59½. While this strategy waives the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty, distributions are still subject to income taxes.

Health Insurance

If you wish to retire before age 65, consider your health insurance options.

  • Employer-sponsored coverage through COBRA
  • Health insurance marketplace plans at HealthCare.gov
  • Joining your spouse’s health insurance plan
  • Potential discounted coverage through membership organizations (e.g., AARP)

When you become eligible for Medicare, you must apply during the seven-month period that begins three months before you turn 65 and three months after your 65th birthday. If you do not apply during this enrollment period, you may face penalties.

Long-Term Care

If you’re thinking about early retirement, you may not be thinking much about nursing home expenses. However, long-term care can be quite expensive, so it’s important to plan for it early so you don’t run out of money when you need it most. Help from family can reduce the need for paid long-term care in your later years, so you may want to consider moving closer to them before or after you retire. Note that Medicare generally does not cover ongoing long-term care, although it may provide limited coverage for skilled nursing and rehabilitation services.  As a result, you’ll either need to self-fund, purchase some form of long-term care insurance, or spend down your assets in order to qualify for Medicaid long-term care assistance.

An early retirement plan usually involves a number of moving parts, so carefully consider withdrawal strategies and your specific tax situation in order to develop a plan that works best for your circumstances.

11 Ways to Beat ‘Streamflation’

What is Streamflation

4 min read

What is StreamflationThe cost of streaming subscriptions is on the rise, and you have to ask: Are they really worth it? Especially when it’s summer, and you’re taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Here are some ways to entertain yourself, friends and the fam that are either no- or low-cost – and might be better than binging on yet another series.

Have ‘Zero Dollar’ days. Set aside one or two days a week where you don’t spend a cent. Make your lunch the day before. Cook dinner at home, and then end the day with a walk at a nearby park.

Plant a garden. All you need is a few seeds (or plants), a place to dig and you’re good to go. Best of all, it will keep you busy all summer long. It’s something, too, that you can do with friends and family. Can you say togetherness?

Practice plogging. What, what, what? Yes, plogging is a real word and a mash-up of a Swedish word, plocka, meaning “to pick,” and jogging. As you’re jogging, or even walking, pick up trash along the way. You’re not only helping your body but also bettering your community and the environment.

Visit free museums. If it’s just too hot to be outside, get some A/C and some culture – without parting with your moolah. Just Google “museums near me,” and you’ll be all set.

Play board games. Scrabble or Monopoly, anyone? What about Gin Rummy or Hearts? Make a light summer salad for dinner, gather with your buds and/or progeny, and have some fun.

Make your own popsicles. What a great money-saving hack. Buy a cheap popsicle mold at Walmart, your neighborhood home goods store, or online. Fill it up with yogurt, fruit, or anything else that sounds delish, freeze, and dig in. Here’s a list of recipes you can experiment with!

Start a book club. Books, remember those? Turn off the Netflix, go to the library or browse online, pick a book that looks good, and gather with friends and family. And bing bang boom, it’s a book club! Sometimes, theater of the mind is so much better than what’s on the idiot box.

Join a Buy Nothing group. This is a collection of people who believe in giving and sharing products instead of engaging in consumerism. With this, you will save money and meet new people. Check out the movement here.

Run through the sprinklers. If you don’t want to go to a pool or one’s not nearby, turn on the sprinklers, suit yourself and your kiddos up in swimsuits, and take off! It’s a quick way to cool down.

Go thrifting. This is something all the cool kids are doing – and have been for some time. Find out where your local second-hand shops are and dive in. You could find some designer gems for very little cash. And usually the stores have A/C, so this is yet another activity to beat the heat.

Stargaze. Wait until after sunset, grab a cool beverage and find a place where you can just sit and be amazed at the universe. If you look long enough, you’ll see shooting stars. After all, nature is one of the best free playgrounds we have.

These are just a few of the many things you can do to lower costs this summer. We’re not saying don’t watch TV, but just that there are so many other things to do that will bring you happiness – and on a budget.

Sources

67 Free & Fun Things to Do This Summer | Apartment Therapy

Small Financial Habits to Set You Up for a Successful 2026