Scams are definately getting harder to spot nowadays. That is mainly due to how Artificial intelligence has changed how fraud works by making messages smoother, faces more familiar, and stories more believable.  

According to Chainabuse, a leading reporting platform for malicious crypto activity worldwide, reports of  AI-enabled scams grew 456% between May 2024 and April 2025, compared with the same period the year before.  And that earlier period was already a 78% increase over 2022-2023.  This dramatic  spike wasn't just more scams, but scams supercharged by AI tools that make fraud faster, cheaper, and more believable.  Here is the real staggering news: Americans lost $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024 alone. 

Last year, employers in the United States cut nearly one million jobs, which is the highest number of layoffs since 2020. Companies of every size are looking for ways to minimize their workforce.

For example, GM cut more than 6,000 jobs over the past two years, even though they had rising profits and strong stock performance.  Amazon has eliminated more than 27,000 jobs since 2022.  Not because they were losing money. Profitable corporations are eliminating jobs because of a new reality - they can grow revenue without adding employees.

Labor expert Andy Challenger noted that job cuts at this level have historically occurred normally “during recessions or… during the first wave of automations that cost jobs in manufacturing and technology.”

When starting a small business, the last thing they are probably thinking about is potential small business tax problems they could run into. Why is this the case? Small business owners are navigating many complicated issues from quarterly tax payments to Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Simply put, there are a lot of details to get right—starting with a W-2 worker’s salary that must be reported to the IRS and state governments by the W-2 deadline — as well as the income and deductions business owners need to claim accurately on their own business tax returns.

Additionally, small businesses also have more complex tax responsibilities, including:

Since data shows that 39% of people in the U.S. report real estate as part of their past or expected inheritance, it is no surprise that subject comes up a lot at the tax desk.  While most people decide to sell it, there are others who turn it into a rental while others decided to move into it.  The big question always is 'What am going to have to pay in taxes when I receive this?'  After you read this, you should have a better understanding of that question.

What if you inherit a house

First of all, you’ll need to decide what to do with the property. Whether you sell it, keep it, or turn it into a rental, each option has different tax implications.

One of the most important tax rules for inherited property is the step-up in basis. A home’s basis is the amount the IRS uses as the starting point for calculating your capital gains tax.

One of the question I get in the tax office every year concerns if you will owe tax for giving large gifts or for receiving large gifts.  The answer is that most people will never come close to exceeding the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption, which, due to the new 2025 Trump/GOP tax law, will remain extraordinarily high for the average household. 

An while giving gifts to your family may apply to these rules, the IRS has several categories of financial gifts that don’t count toward annual gift tax limits, no matter how much you give. But before we dive into which gifts the IRS treats as tax-free, it helps to know a little bit about the federal gift tax.

According to a recent analysis by Self Financial, the average American will pay an estimated $762,272 in total taxes over their lifetime. (This actually represents a roughly 45% increase from the 2024 estimate of $524,625 in lifetime taxes and I'm sure it will go up form there.) The study looked at various taxes Americans pay throughout their lifetimes across several major categories: Federal and state income taxes, Property taxes, Sales taxes and Vehicle-related taxes.

As no surprise, income taxes make up the largest share of the lifetime tax burden. (Their analysis estimates that the average U.S. taxpayer pays about $532,910 in federal and state income taxes over a lifetime.) 

According to the study, Property taxes add roughly more than $145,000 over a lifetime. 

One of the questions I get alot are from people who have a great deal of money bult up over the years and they want to fund a Roth IRAs by doing conversions from their traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and/or making yearly Roth contributions.

While you can’t deduct the contributions you make to a Roth IRA, the money in the account grows tax-free. Of course, as with most things concerning taxes, there are some rules to prevent from cheating the system. In brief, you are subject to the five-year rule and withdrawals have to be after age 59½ to be not taxable and prevent penalties.