Musings, in the news lately

 October 8, 2026

  Items in the news lately -- that are generating phone calls and emails ....

  1.  $90 payment from federal government for Medicare beneficiaries -- not sure how to classify this one -- is it a premium rebate?  It is not a refund of an overpayment of Medicare premiums and it will NOT reduce your Medicare premiums.  Evidently the money is coming from a stash of cash in a Medicare fund somewhere.   

 2. $500 payments to individuals who purchased their health insurance thru the Marketplace ( or exchange ) and did not receive premium assistance.  It's not that consumers were charged a fee when purchasing the insurance -- the money comes from an accumulated Marketplace user fee fund.  This one is weird -- best description I can find - I'm not the insurance guru -- but I'm not sure why one would purchase insurance thru the Marketplace if they weren't getting premium assistance.  

 3.  Trump accounts - New Treasury regulations mean that Trump accounts, (section 530A accounts) will now be automatically established for eligible children.  BUT the auto account creation does not trigger an automatic $1000 contribution from the federal government.  The $1000 pilot contribution has separate eligibility requirements and requires an election.  

 4.  Minnesota Property Tax Refunds -- some of you have received them -- some of you have not.  Timing of the refunds seems to be sporadic and when using the Minnesota "Where's my Refund" tool .. the notice state "in processing."   Be patient -- there was a late start to processing all of the returns and it takes time to work thru any potential "bugs" in the system.

WHAT WE'RE DOING THIS WEEK AT THE OFFICE ..

1.  finishing the extensions -- 5? to go?  
2.  power washing the green stuff / pollution off the back deck (painting to follow).
3.  power washing the front room rugs in the parking lot.
          I knew that cement parking lot would be handy ...
          I know the neighbors think I've lost my mind.
4.  document management system clean ups ... we've got a lot of old documents to purge.
          purging cleans up and speeds up the system.
5.  Quarterly payroll reports -- Federal, Minnesota, Unemployment and MN Paid Family Leave.

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Question of the week: 

Anyone figure out the holiday of the week?  

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My Schedule for the week of October 11 thru October 17th
  ( Office, County and Otherwise )

M: 
T:   County Board Meeting (morning)
W:  Region 9 Commission Meeting - Upper North ( evening)
R:   TDSLibrary Board - Mankato - morning
F:   
S:    Tri County Solid Waste Appliance/Tire Collection 

I had a supper at the Lake on Wednesday -- another beautiful sunset and some fishermen -- hopefully the fish were biting and the bugs were tolerable.

2026 Charitable Donations

 

Charitable Donations --
  

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ( OBBB ) changed/updated the methods in which taxpayers can deduct charitable gifts for the 2026 tax year.

1.  Taxpayers taking the standard deduction - can now claim a deduction for charitable contributions  $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly.  There are limitations -- the deduction only applies to cash donations made directly to certain qualified charitable organizations, such as 501(c)(3) charities.  It does not apply to non-cash donations (property), contributions to supporting organizations, donor-advised funds or most private foundations.

2.  Taxpayers who chose to itemize their deductions will see changes to the "math" or limitations to the charitable contributions.  Under the new OBBB provisions, only charitable contributions that exceed 0.5% (or 1/2 percent) of your adjusted gross income (AGI) will be deductible.  Any donations below this floor will not count as a deduction.  

3.  High earners are subject to a new deductible cap.  Taxpayers in the highest federal tax bracket (37%) now face a cap on charitable deductions.  For those in the 37% federal bracket, the tax savings you get from each dollar of itemized deductions (including charitable gifts) is generally capped at 35 cents per on the dollar.  

Test Post

   just a test post to see if I can link this to our wastebook page.