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Didn’t file your taxes on time? Here’s what a tax expert says you should do next

Didn’t file your taxes on time? Here’s what a tax expert says you should do next

If you missed the April 15 tax deadline, the clock is already ticking on penalties and interest — but there are still steps you can take to reduce the damage. Experts say taxpayers should file immediately, even if they can’t pay their full bill, and pay as much as they can to avoid the steepest penalties. Those who still owe can apply for a payment plan to manage the remaining balance. TAX DAY IS THIS WEEK: AVOID THESE 5 COMMON MISTAKES THAT CAN COST YOU MONEY The IRS says most applicants receive immediate approval or denial when applying for a payment plan online. “You can still file your return and at least eliminate the failure-to-file penalty, which can reach up to 25% of any tax owed, with interest compounding,” said Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Services. The IRS can impose multiple penalties, including failure-to-file, failure-to-pay and underpayment penalties, which are assessed separately and can accrue interest daily, Steber said. He added that consulting a tax professional early can help taxpayers navigate their options and potentially reduce the total cost. THE SIMPLE TAX HABIT THAT COULD SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OVER YOUR LIFETIME “In many cases, the total cost — including taxes, penalties, interest and professional fees — ends up being higher than if you had sought help earlier,” Steber said. “The worst thing you can do is ignore the deadline,” he added. “Many people think they’ll deal with it later, but that can lead to mounting penalties and unnecessary financial risk.” Filing as soon as possible and exploring IRS payment options can help taxpayers regain control of their situation and minimize added costs. Steber said taxpayers should view filing as part of a long-term financial strategy, not just a once-a-year obligation. “Your tax return is one of your largest financial transactions each year,” he said. “Giving it proper attention can pay dividends over time.”

Republicans bet higher tax refunds will boost midterm chances as blue states resist relief

Republicans bet higher tax refunds will boost midterm chances as blue states resist relief

Republicans are betting tax cuts they championed will be a difference-maker in November’s midterm elections amid a rise in refunds this filing season. But Republicans still face a key challenge — convincing voters to credit them for the tax relief when they head to the ballot box. “You can talk about it, but you’ve got to feel it and that’s what’s going to happen,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday, referring to the slate of new tax breaks signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2025.  “We believe by the time of the midterms, people are not only going to be talking about it, they are going to feel it,” Emmer insisted. STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP’S TEAM HUDDLES ON MIDTERM MESSAGING WITH SPOTLIGHT ON ECONOMY As they look to defend their slim House majority, the GOP is ramping up its messaging to promote the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also known as the Working Families Tax Cuts. Republicans spent Tax Day on Wednesday touting larger refunds this year while highlighting Democratic lawmakers’ opposition to the tax bill that passed with solely GOP votes.  The average refund this year is over $3,400, amounting to an 11% increase compared to last tax season, according to data released by the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday. Republicans have pointed to those returns as early proof their tax policy is reaching voters’ wallets. A vast swath of Americans is also benefiting from new tax cuts that Trump first floated on the 2024 campaign trail. More than 53 million tax filers claimed new deductions for tips, overtime pay, automobile loans or being over the age of 65, according to the Treasury Department. Some are also receiving a larger child tax credit and relief for state and local taxes. “When you’re seeing it in your tax return, when you’re seeing it in your paycheck, when you’re actually able to feel that, I think that’s going to make a difference to put us in a good spot for 2026,” Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., said Wednesday. Democrats, however, argue those benefits may not be enough to overcome Americans’ broader economic concerns. The party is voicing increasing confidence it will retake House control and put the Senate in play this November, citing voter discontent about cost-of-living issues and Trump’s declining approval ratings. Republicans must also overcome the trend of the party in power shedding seats during a midterm year. “A lot of people want to count us out in November,” Emmer said during a GOP messaging event highlighting the new tax benefits on Wednesday. “We’re going to be just fine, because we’ve got a great map in the House. We’ve got great candidates across the country.” AVERAGE TAX REFUND TOPS $3,700 MIDWAY THROUGH FILING SEASON, TREASURY SAYS Democrats have largely opposed the tax cuts, arguing they disproportionately benefit corporations and the wealthy.  But Republicans say working Americans and small businesses will see a smaller tax bill this year as a result of their policies.  Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman told Fox News Digital that the overtime deduction has been a “morale booster” for law enforcement putting in extra hours. More than 25 million Americans have claimed the new tax break with an average deduction of more than $3,100, according to the IRS.  Republicans are also highlighting a slate of business tax breaks, which beneficiaries argue could boost job growth and provide economic benefits to their community. “It gave me the certainty and the confidence to go out and make capital investments,” Courtney Silver, who owns a machine shop in North Carolina and invested more than $1 million in equipment following the passage of the tax bill, told Fox News Digital. “For everything we invested in, we need to create those new positions on our team,” Silver added.  The United States could have shed nearly 6 million jobs if Republicans had failed to extend the 2017 tax cuts through the party’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. Still, seven in 10 Americans say their taxes are too high, the highest dissatisfaction in more than two decades, according to a recent Fox News poll.  Some Democratic-led states have notably refused to conform to the new federal tax breaks enacted by Republicans, citing concern about their impact on state revenue. GOP lawmakers have argued it’s an attempt by Democrats to prevent voters from feeling the tax relief passed by Republicans. “I’ve got a governor that refuses and a Democrat-controlled legislature that refuses to do tax compliance, so I’m not getting the benefit, nor is any other Minnesotan,” Emmer said, referring to the average increase in returns. “That’s a game changer and my state’s not getting that.” Trump is heading to Nevada and Arizona beginning Thursday to highlight his “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime” policies as he goes to bat for Republicans to help them keep their bicameral congressional majority in this year’s midterm elections.

Mamdani’s wife ‘truly sorry’ for controversial anti-Israel social media posts

Mamdani’s wife ‘truly sorry’ for controversial anti-Israel social media posts

Rama Duwaji, wife to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, apologized for old social media posts that included racial slurs and celebrations of Palestinian terrorists in an interview published Wednesday. Duwaji, a Texas-born Syrian-American, expressed her regret for language she used in old social media messages during an interview with online publication Hyperallergic, her first public interview since her husband became mayor in January. “When a tabloid recently published old tweets I wrote as a teenager, I felt a lot of shame being confronted with language I used that is so harmful to others; being 15 doesn’t excuse it,” she told the outlet. In March, the Washington Free Beacon published an expose revealing a number of Duwaji’s old posts on X, formerly Twitter, and the blogging website Tumblr. NYC MAYOR MAMDANI’S WIFE LIKED POSTS CELEBRATING OCT 7 TERROR ATTACKS BUT GETS SOFT TREATMENT FROM THE PRESS The posts included celebrations of U.S.-designated terrorist groups and individuals who had committed acts of terror. In March 2015, when Duwaji was 17, an X account the Washington Free Beacon connected to Duwaji reposted a photo of Shadia Abu Ghazaleh with a caption that extolled her as a resistance fighter. Ghazaleh was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S. and globally-designated terrorist group. Revered as a martyr in Palestine, many pro-Palestinians laud her for participating in a bombing of an Israeli bus. Ghazaleh died in 1968 when a bomb she had planned to use on a building in Tel Aviv exploded in her home. Another Duwaji post the Free Beacon unearthed showed her allegedly using a racial slur. SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS ON MAMDANI OVER REPORTS HIS WIFE LIKED PRO-OCTOBER 7TH POSTS: ‘THIS IS WHO THEY ARE’ And another post appeared to show her using a derogatory word for gay people. According to the Beacon’s investigation, she allegedly reposted another user saying that the Israeli city Tel Aviv “shouldn’t even exist in the first place.” NYC MAYOR MAMDANI’S WIFE GLORIFIED TERRORISTS IN ONLINE POSTS, CRITICIZED US MILITARY: REPORT “I’ve read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused and am truly sorry,” Duwaji told Hyperallergic. “My focus isn’t on being a public figure, but continuing my work with care and responsibility, and allowing my art to speak for itself.” The X account associated with Duwaji was deleted shortly after the Beacon published their investigation. Her Wednesday apology appears to be her first public acknowledgment of the posts. An artist by trade, Duwaji has been an outspoken critic of Israel during her husband’s political career. In February, just one month after Mamdani’s inauguration, Duwaji came under fire for contributing an illustration to an essay about a Gaza refugee camp written by an author who celebrated the October 7 attacks by Hamas. ISRAELI COMEDIAN DROPS OUT OF PASSOVER EVENT AFTER LEARNING OF MAMDANI’S ATTENDANCE Susan Abulhawa, the author of the essay attached to Duwaji’s illustration, called Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack at a music festival in Israel that killed more than 1,200 people “a spectacular moment that shocked the world.” She has also referred to Israelis as “rootless, soulless ghouls” and “Jewish supremacist demons” in social media posts that are still active. Mamdani condemned the comments and claimed Duwaji contributed the illustration through a third party service. “I think that that rhetoric is patently unacceptable. I think it’s reprehensible,” he said in March. “And as is common for freelance illustrators, the First Lady was commissioned to illustrate an excerpt of a book by a third party. She has never engaged with or met with the author, nor had she seen the tweets that you’re referring to.” Fox News Digital contacted a representative of Mayor Mamdani for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Former Dem Virginia Lt. Gov. kills wife, himself in shocking murder-suicide: police

Former Dem Virginia Lt. Gov. kills wife, himself in shocking murder-suicide: police

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Former Democratic Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his wife and then himself in a shocking murder-suicide early Thursday morning, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.  “Justin Fairfax shot and killed – shot several times –  and killed his wife, ran to a different part of the home and then killed himself with the same firearm he just got unseen,” said police chief Kevin Davis during a press conference on Thursday morning.  Police received a 911 call shortly after midnight from Fairfax’s teenage son. Fairfax’s killing comes amid reported marital disputes with his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, as the couple was seeking a divorce, and follows controversy surrounding sexual assault allegations against him that dimmed his rising star status in the Democratic Party in 2019.  HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL’S KILLING LEAVES AGENCY ‘DEVASTATED’ AS VETTING BREAKDOWN EXPOSED The violence unfolded as the couple was in the midst of a contentious divorce — though they were no longer together, they were still living under the same roof, Davis said. There were several cameras set up in the home due to the divorce proceedings.  “Fairfax called us to their home back in January and alleged that his wife assaulted him in the home, we were able to go to those cameras and determine that the alleged assault never occurred,” said Davis. VIRGINIA LT. GOV. JUSTIN FAIRFAX’S ACCUSER RELEASES STATEMENT DETAILING SEXUAL-ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS “The allegation that Mr. Fairfax made in January that Mrs. Fairfax assaulted him was proven to be untrue,” said Davis noting investigators were able to corroborate that the alleged assault did not happen. “So that’s the only time that the Fairfax County Police Department has ever been to the Fairfax home,” he added. Fairfax served as the 41st lieutenant governor under Gov. Ralph Northam between Jan. 13, 2018, to Jan. 15, 2022. Fairfax was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before moving to Annandale, Virginia.  Fairfax shared two teenage children with his wife. Both children were present during the time of the murder. Davis said it is a “traumatic event for … those children to live through.” Fairfax was accused of sexual assault in 2019 when two women came forward. The Virginia politician denied the allegations.  One of the women shared a graphic statement saying he forced her to perform oral sex back in 2004 during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Fox News Digital previously reported. DHS SLAMS CALIFORNIA ‘SANCTUARY’ COUNTY AFTER MOM ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY 2 HONDURAN NATIONALS Fairfax shot himself with the same gun he used to murder his wife. Authorities do not know the details about the gun purchase.  He supported Virginia’s first red flag law preventing individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing, possessing or transporting any kind of firearm. “We have given commonsense tools like the ‘red flag’ law to law enforcement, the courts and our communities to help keep our families safe even as we ensure due process and protect Constitutional rights,” he posted on X in 2022.