Defense Stocks Rose With the Ukraine War. Then a Tight Proposed Budget Set Them Back.

Elias Stein Text size Defense stocks took a surprising blow after a proposed defense budget was released last week. The Biden administration asked Congress for $773 billion to fund defense for fiscal ...

Biden’s Wealth Tax Proposal Would Target More Than Billionaires

Text size President Joe Biden’s new budget proposal includes a wealth tax it says would target the top 0.01% of households. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images About the author: Thomas Hoenig is a dist...

Defense Stocks Take a Hit on U.S. Defense Spending Request

Text size Defense stocks trade for about 18 times estimated 2022 earnings. Jose Luis Magana / AFP) Defense stocks are taking a small hit after details of the coming defense budget were released. On Mo...

Biden’s Budget to Include Billionaire Tax Proposal

The proposal to tax billionaire households aims to ensure the wealthiest Americans pay at least 20% on their income and unrealized asset gains. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Getty Images Text si...

Worried About Getting Audited? Here Are Red Flags for the IRS.

Even though the Internal Revenue Service is auditing fewer taxpayers these days, you still don’t want to put a target on your back. Among those more likely to get audited: Small-business owners with l...

Opinion: Preparing for the great sunset: What you need to know if tax code provisions expire

The hot equities and housing markets have contributed to a surge in U.S. household wealth during the pandemic. According to the Federal Reserve, household wealth grew by $19 trillion to $137 trillion ...

Weekend reads: There’s a recession warning as the Federal Reserve fights inflation

The Federal Reserve this week increased the federal funds rate for the first time since 2018. Long-term market interest rates had risen significantly as investors anticipated that the central bank wou...

Hey, Gig Worker! Prepare for a Lot More Work When You File Your Taxes.

Self-employed workers who quit salaried jobs last year in the “Great Resignation”—the biggest corporate exodus on record—may find themselves reminiscing about the good old days on a payroll as they pr...

Opinion: The Fed needs to target a floor for the 10-year Treasury, in addition to radically raising the fed funds rate

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell faces the toughest task since Chairman Paul Volcker tamed the Great Inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. And a lot of the pressures driving the most virulent ...

Estate and Gift Taxes 2021-2022: What’s New This Year and What You Need to Know

The federal estate- and gift-tax exemption applies to the total of an individual’s taxable gifts made during life and assets left at death. Above the exemption, the top rate on such transfers is 40%. ...

Standard Deduction 2021-2022: How Much Is It?

The standard deduction is the amount taxpayers can subtract from income if they don’t break out deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, state and local taxes and other items separa...

2021-2022 Federal Income Tax Brackets and Rates

The top tax rate is 37%. For 2026, the top rate is set to return to 39.6%. Photo: Illustration: Tammy Lian The tax code currently has seven income-tax brackets for individuals that range from 10% to 3...

Mortgage Interest Deduction: How It Works in 2022

The number of taxpayers claiming mortgage interest deductions on Schedule A has dropped sharply since the 2017 tax overhaul enacted both direct and indirect curbs on them. For 2019, about 13 million f...

Why Moving to a State with Low Income Taxes Could Cost You

That’s what financial professionals are telling clients who are fed up with high income tax rates in their home state and weighing an out-of-state move. They’re counseling clients to take an in-depth ...

Warren Buffett: Berkshire Hathaway Paid 1% of All U.S. Corporate Tax Receipts

Berkshire Hathaway has the largest amount of domestic infrastructure assets of any American company and paid $3.3 billion in federal taxes in 2021—or nearly 1% of all corporate tax receipts—CEO Warren...

Many Americans Will Be Getting Smaller Tax Refunds This Year. Here’s Why.

The flood of federal pandemic-relief money was welcome last year, but it is causing disappointment and confusion as taxpayers prepare their 2021 returns. Many will be getting smaller-than-expected ref...

The WSJ Tax Guide 2022: What to Know Now About Tax Filing and Refunds

Feb. 18, 2022 5:30 am ET Get ready for a wild tax season. Every year more than 200 million Americans sign and send income-tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. But the 2022 filing season will b...

‘We live 5 minutes from our in-laws who have a larger home’: Is it a good idea to swap houses? Will I end up with a surprise tax bill?

I am a California resident. My husband and I own a 1,800-square-foot home that we bought in 2019 for $1.5 million. We have between 40% and 50% equity in the property due to a large down payment. We li...

The Tax Advantages of Series I Savings Bonds

At first glance, a stodgy, government-guaranteed investment may not seem like the most thrilling investment idea. But for many investors that’s exactly what U.S. Treasury Series “I” savings bonds are ...

Tax season: does the IRS know if you trade crypto? Is your NFT sale or mining income taxable?

Hello! Welcome back to Distributed Ledger, our weekly crypto newsletter that reaches your inbox every Thursday. I’m Frances Yue, crypto reporter at MarketWatch. It is tax season in the U.S., and I’ll ...

Opinion: The party’s over: The Fed and Congress have pulled their support from workers and investors

Even as the government reports the fastest economic growth in nearly 40 years, the historic gains in income and wealth that inflated the economy in 2020 and 2021 are fading fast. The air is coming out...

Fed rate hikes are coming — how to tackle your savings, mortgage, car payments and credit-card debt in advance

Wall Street investors and Washington D.C. lawmakers are closely listening to what Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says Wednesday about the central bank’s next steps in its fight against decades...

Opinion: Thankfully, the Fed has decided to stop digging, but it has a lot of work to do before it gets us out of hole we’re in

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Project Syndicate)—The Federal Reserve has turned on a dime, an uncharacteristic about-face for an institution long noted for slow and deliberate shifts in monetary policy. While the...

‘Not all the money belongs to you’: Self-employed? Avoid these mistakes when filing your 2021 taxes

More Americans are becoming their own boss as the “Great Resignation” continues. Now they’ll have to resign themselves to the fact that their tax situation is likely going to become more complicated. ...

The IRS will ask every taxpayer about crypto transactions this tax season — here’s how to report them

Cryptocurrencies, also known as virtual currencies, have gone mainstream. That’s for sure. For example, you can use bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.21% to buy a Tesla TSLA, -6.75% and to buy or pay for lots of oth...

This year’s income tax filing season starts Jan. 24, and the IRS says it’s going to be a ‘frustrating’ one

Ready for your 2021 tax refund? Mark your calendars because January 24 is the date the Internal Revenue Service will start accepting and processing 2021 income tax returns. The 2022 tax season will ru...