To avoid penalties, most Americans will need to file either their tax return or an request for extension by April 15 this year.

Tax Extension 2026

The IRS grants an automatic, no questions asked, extension to any filer who requests one by April 15 using Form 4868. Filing for a tax extension moves the due date for your taxes to October 15th.

However, there is a catch. If you OWE money on your taxes — that is, if you are not getting a refund — the amount you owe is still due on April 15. Filing an extension does not give you extra time to pay, only extra time to file.

What happens if I don’t file my taxes on time?

How does this work? On Form 4868, you’ll see a place to estimate how much taxes you are going to owe in 2026, for your 2025tax return. You have to make a payment for this amount along with your extension form. If you overestimate how much you owe, you’ll get a refund when you do file, just like if you paid too much in and filed on April 15. If you underestimate, the amount you owe, then you will owe interest, and possibly penalties on the amount you did not pay on April 15.

For most people, it is in their best interest to pay too much and get a refund when the filing is finally ready than to get whacked with interest charges. In other words, you need to get a pretty close estimate.

For this reason, an extension often works best for folks who are already pretty sure of how the income portion of their taxes works, and are still in the process of adding in deductions, which would reduce your overall taxes. In this way, there is little chance of underpaying.

Still Time to Contribute

The April 15 date is also the deadline to make “late” contributions to things like IRA accounts or HSA accounts for 2025. Note that even if you file an extension, you do not get additional time to contribute to an IRA or HSA for 2025. Those are still due on April 15.

Xcel Energy And The Rate Choice

Xcel Energy is a for-profit corporation, like most big American companies. You can buy shares of Xcel stock if you choose. Xcel’s ticker symbol is XEL. It trades on the NASDAQ even though they got a three letter stock symbol. As I type this, the stock closed at $80.40 a share. I don’t know if that’s higher or lower. I don’t have any Xcel stock.

Unlike most American companies, Xcel Energy trades it’s near monopoly in the areas it serves for oversight by regulators who keep Xcel from doing what most American companies seem to do these days. Run, a rational business charging a fair, but profitable price for a good service supplied by competent, skilled workers that the company treats decently. Until they bring in a Wall Street MBA CEO who doesn’t care about customers, the service, or the workers. All he or she cares about is the share price and doing whatever it takes to make it go up. If he ruins the company, he needn’t worry. He will still get millions of dollars in a buyout before a simpering board or directors sells the still profitable, still solid business to private equity, who load it with debt, charge it millions for management fees and then spin it back out to the terminally stupid who have somehow not figured out yet that everything private equity touches dies.

But, today, Xcel Energy is a profitable company. Any excesses are reigned in by regulators who, while not perfect, do not allow the company to openly pull a scam on its citizens. Still, there are plenty of people, even on my street, who are convinced that Xcel Energy is screwing them over with smart meters and using those to charge them way more money than they ever did with their dumb meters. The reality is not so dramatic.

Yes, the smart meters allow Xcel to better track your energy usage, and it keeps them from having to spend money to have someone come out and read your meter, but that’s about all it does. It also lets you use an app to monitor your electricity usage in real-time. It can be an eye-opener to sit and watch what happens to your usage when the air conditioner kicks on or the dryer stops. If you’re like me, you can wander around the house turning things on and off to see how much electricity they use.

If you insist on keeping your old meter, they will let you and charge you the same flat rate for your electricity as they do the people with smart meters who choose the flat rate for their electricity. There is no plot. You can pick which one you want. You can’t flip back and forth willy-nilly. They don’t want people gaming the system, plus it makes your billing more complicated that you and they can probably handle.

Xcel Energy Rate Change for Winter

The Time of Use (TOU) pricing, or Peak Pricing if you prefer, isn’t new, although some people were only recently given the choice. You can only use TOU pricing if you have a smart meter, otherwise Xcel can’t tell when you are using the energy, only that it has been used. In a typical display of poor mathing, some people insist that the flat rate is cheaper. Unless you have uncommon circumstances, that probably isn’t true.

Xcel asking for (regulators) and getting yet another change in the way they charge for TOU is pretty much proof that the former TOU was a better deal for you. If Xcel was overly benefiting from tricking most people into TOU pricing, why would they want to change it?

Still, a new rate plan is a new chance for people to be suspicious. So, is it better? I suppose that depends on when you are home and what you do when you are there.

Choose Your Xcel Rates

The peak hours and the rates charged during that time are only part of the story. The new rates represent a cut in the rate, and the peak hours are shorter. But, the most important fact has nothing to do with those.

In winter, the average house in Colorado uses way less electricity than in the summer. The reason? Air conditioning. You don’t run your air conditioner in the winter. You still have to manage the temperature in your home, which most of us do with our furnace. And, for most of us, that furnace runs on natural gas. So your utility bill in the winter represents the cost of the gas more than the cost of electricity.

Be that as it may, in Winter your peak electricity rate is $0.18331 per kWh. Your off-peak rate is $0.06792. The peak hours are now 5:00pm to 9:00pm. There is no mid-peak anymore.

If you choose the flat rate, you pay $0.08570 per kWh all the time, 24/7.

Which Rate is Cheaper TOU or Flat Rate?

At first glance, it might look like the flat rate is obviously the better deal. It’s only two cents more than the off-peak rate, and you never have to pay the peak rate, which is more than double the flat rate. However, when it comes to money, you always want to check the math.

First, just four out of 24 hours are peak rate. In other words, 20 hours per day, you pay two cents less than the flat rate. Granted, 5pm to 9pm is when most people are home, and if you work during the day, it might be when you use the most of your electricity. The question is, how much is most?

Before we get to that question, let’s throw in the fact that weekends are always the low rate. There is no peak rate charges on the weekend. If you do work sort of regular 8-5 hours M-F that means that you could be in your home using electricity not only from 5-9, but from those 8 hours that you would normally be at work as well. Throw in some kids that are also home on the weekend, and you spend a lot more hours in off-peak time than you do in peak time.

If we do some math, for 148 out of 168 hours, you pay off-peak rate.

So, then which rate is cheapest?

It still depends upon how and when you use your electricity. For example, if you are busy most evenings so the only appliances you really use are the stove, the microwave, the TV and the lights, but you can’t get around to things like laundry, running the dishwasher, and baking until the weekend, then that TOU is going to end up being cheaper.

If everyone in your house is gone from 8-5 until you all come crushing back into the house where you obviously run the dishwasher every night at like 8pm, and you’re constantly doing laundry that you can’t wait until after 9pm to do because you have to wash and dry before you go to bed, then maybe flat rate might be cheaper, but even then it can be close unless you all disappear on the weekends or your kids are in travel sports, and you’re always on your way to somewhere in Nebraska or Kansas on the weekends.

There is a comparison too on the Xcel website, but they don’t show you the math, so it’s easy to think maybe they’re fudging the numbers. Fortunately, it’s easy to do your own comparison. Grab your bill. Your actual bill with your real, not projected energy use. You’ll have to wait until you get your November bill because the October one used different times.

Once you have it, all you have to do is find your “Usage Units” for On-Peak and multiply that number by $0.18331. Then find your Off-Peak and multiply those by $0.06792. Add them together. That is the part of your electric bill that is based on you and your usage. All those other numbers are fees and taxes and stuff that you are going to pay the same for either way. Now, take the total number of Usage Units for both categories and multiply them by $0.08570.

Weird, huh?

Chances are the numbers are pretty close but cheaper with TOU. If not, consider if you can move some of your usage outside of the 5-9pm hours. Remember, it’s not your lights, TVs, and computers that use up lots of electricity. It’s your oven, dishwasher, and washer and dryer. The refrigerator uses a bunch too, but that’s going to happen one way or another so it really isn’t worth worrying about. If not, you can look into switching back. For our family, I was surprised at how clear-cut it was that TOU was better.

Have You Gotten an Electric Car Yet?

If you have an electric car, then TOU is the hands down, no-brainer choice for you. You want that lowest rate possible for when you are charging your car. Then, just set your charger to only run between 9:00pm and 5:0pm (the hours that are NOT 5-9pm) and your car will always charge at the cheapest rate.

You can charge 60 kWh, or about 70% of our Nissan Ariya battery, for $4. That’s way cheaper than buying gas! Plus, your car is faster and quieter than pretty much any gas car out there. It’s almost like a cheat code. I sometimes think that it’s actually kind best for those of us with EVs if everybody else still thinks they should have gas cars. I guess, “Thanks oil industry. Doing us a solid here.”

In conclusion (I hate when people say that), it probably won’t matter too much for the winter which rate you choose. Maybe that’s why Xcel is kind of flippant on that card. They don’t care what you pick either. Come summer, when electricity is the major part of your utility bill, it’s probably worth checking again.

No Tax on Car Loan Interest

No tax on car loan interest is dumb. There was never any tax on car loan interest. Car loan interest is an expense, not income. So, you don’t pay tax on car loan interest already. Even if you did pay taxes on car loan interest, a deduction for that wouldn’t be “no tax” it would be less tax. So, now that we’ve dispensed with the marketing, let’s do this.

How To Deduct Car Loan Interest

Trump pumps out the headlines, congressmen write up the bills so it comes close to what Trump said. Actually, congressional staffers experienced in writing legislation write the bills, or so we hope.

In this case, no tax on car loan interest comes with some important limitations.

• A maximum deduction of $10,000
• Must be a loan for purchasing a new car
  • You can deduct interest after refinancing a new car loan as long as you don’t make the loan for more than it was before.
• Loan has to be started in 2025
• It has to be a qualified vehicle.

What is a Qualified Vehicle for Deductible Car Interest?

People are always complaining about how long the tax code is. It’s not long because of the taxes. It’s long because of having to spell everything out exactly so that someone doesn’t find a loophole and exploit it. So, the short version is that it has to be a car that was assembled in the United States. That leaves a lot of wiggle room, so there are some spelled out points and definitions.

• Has to have a gross vehicle weight of less than 14,000 pounds. That’s all the normal cars, but it keeps someone from deducting some big job site truck or 18-wheeler and saying it’s “a car.”
• It has to be a personal vehicle. There’s further definition here, but the IRS can be a little bit loose here because it essentially means you have to say that it is not a business vehicle, which means you can’t deduct things like mileage or maintenance as a business expense. Slick.
• Final assembly in the US is defined for car manufactures. You don’t really have to worry about it. It says on the window sticker and title where the car was assembled. If you want, there is a VIN lookup you can use to find out if you have the VIN and not the information somehow.

Car Loan Deduction Income Limitations

One of the ways you can get the CBO to say your new tax deduction costs less (and therefore adds less to the deficit) is by limiting how long it lasts or limiting how much income you can have to get the deduction. In this case, they went with income limitations.

• Your income has to be lower than $100,000 for filing indivual
• Your income has to be lower than $200,000 for filing jointly

Important to note, the “income” in this case is your adjusted gross income or AGI. You can find it on line 11 of your Form 1040.

To refresh your memory, your AGI is your salary, pensions, capital gains, and business income, minus the things on Part II of Schedule 1 Adjustments to Income. You get these things even if you do not itemize your income tax deductions. So, as always, as a high-income taxpayer you want to max out the subtractions you get here. In this case, you want them to get you under $100,000 as a single filer or $200,000 as a married filing joint filer.

These subtractions are often referred to as as above the line deductions. The line, being the AGI line at 11. They occur before you take either the standard deduction or itemized deductions.

The most common deductions are HSA accounts, IRA deductions, student loan interest deductions, and self-employed deductions for retirement and health insurance contributions. (Technically your small business deductions are above the line too, but they are folded into your income from the business instead).

How Will You Know How Much Interest You Can Deduct?

Oh, goodie. Another tax form. Yep, the law requires your lender to send you a form to report the interest you pay on your car loan. No details yet, but expect it to be something like the 1098 you get from your mortgage company.

Old People!

Congress loves throwing in an extra deduction for older taxpayers. In this case, if you are 65 or older, you can claim an additional $6,000 deduction for your car interest. Each oldster can claim their own bonus, so it’s an extra $12,000 for a married couple.

The bonus deduction starts phasing out lower at $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for joint.

What Kind of Car Is This?

Just for fun, you might wonder what it would take to max out the old car interest deduction. The important thing to remember here is that this is an “overall” deduction. You don’t get an additional deduction for more cars, but you can spread your limit out over multiple cars, which is good, because you would have to buy a $300,0000 car at 5% over 5 years to get anywhere close to the $16,000 an older married couple could deduct.

That said, a couple of $100,000 car loans (5%, 5 years) would come close to that $10,000 number.

I didn’t read enough to see if the limits are indexed to inflation, but if not, those limits are for the future not for today.

Bottom Line

To sum up, buy a car assembled in America, and deduct the interest up to $10,000 per year when you make less than $100,000 or $200,000 depending on if you are married or not.

And, if you’re wondering, it sucks compared to a flat out $7,500 CREDIT not deduction for electric vehicles. But, if you’re going to hate technology, science, and the future, this is the best you can do.

Enjoy.

Remember, you get the deduction based upon CONTRIBUTIONS, and your contributions do NOT have to be made before your expenses are incurred.

In other words, if you go to the doctor and get a $180 bill, you can (EVEN AFTER) contribute $180 to your HSA account. Pay the $180 doctor bill (maybe using a rewards credit card), and THEN reimburse yourself the $180 expense.

This is the best way to deduct medical expenses if you qualify. Otherwise, remember that you can only deduct medical expenses that are 10% above your adjusted gross income. With an HSA account, every contribution is deductible, regardless of when you use the money to pay medical bills.

Also, any medical bills you pay with your HSA cannot be deducted as medical expenses. Also, HSA paid expenses do not count toward the 7.5% floor needed to deduct medical expenses.

Remember, the contribution is deductible, not the expense. Contribute money for every qualified medical expense you have, and the net effect is the same as deducting all of your medical expenses. Remember, unlike a FSA, you can carry over money in an HSA for as long as you like.

See my do it yourself guide to freelance taxes.

About the Author

Brian is a former Certified Financial Planner and financial advisor. He writes for the Finance Gourmet and other financial publications. The material provided on this website is for informational use only and is not intended for financial or tax advice. ArcticLlama, LLC, FinanceGourmet.com, and Brian Nelson, assume no liability for any loss or damage resulting from one’s reliance on the material provided. Please also note that such material is not updated regularly and that some of the information may not therefore be current. Consult with your own tax professional when making decisions regarding your tax situation.

What Is JEPQ?

JEPQ is an exchange traded fund, or ETF managed by JPMorgan. The fund, more or less, seeks to mimic the ever-growing popularity of selling covered calls to generate income while still holding your stocks to become rich and famous from their capital appreciation. To do this, it starts with a fund comprised of stocks to roughly approximate the Nasdaq 100, and then it sells covered-calls (and equity-linked notes, which are institutional sized covered calls) on those stocks to generate income.

If everything goes according to plan, the fund will generate income and hold those stocks as well. The best of both worlds. When things don’t go according to plan, stocks rise rapidly taking out said covered-calls and making them money losing exchanges of pennies for multiple dollars of share price increases. Fortunately, those things are hidden silently within the fund so you don’t have to worry your pretty little head about that.

In the end, you get

(JPEQ returned) 9.81% for the twelve months ended June 30,2025. The S&P 500 returned 15.16% and the Nasdaq-100 returned 16.10%.

Bummer, Ted.

JPEQ Review Time

As an investment, you could probably do a lot worse than JPEQ. As a port of a well-diversified, long-term portfolio you probably have better options.

Where JPEQ can be worthwhile is that sort of mid-term spot, or I suppose, if you want to generate income that’s less irritating that what a savings account might kick out and more turnkey than managing your own bond portfolio. If you’re wondering why such a mid ETF generates such buzz, the answer is this:

Nobody listens to that past performance is not a predictor of future results thing. JPEQ was on fire in 2023, and it had a hell of a calendar year 2024 as well.

In 2025? Well….

As was foretold by everyone who wasn’t a JEPQ zealot, and the prospectus, and investment knowledge, selling covered calls to generate income isn’t always the best way to make money. Sometimes, you sell a covered call at 28 on a stock at 25 and the stock blows up to 33 and keeps going, and… you missed out because your shares got called away at 28. This is particularly tricky when you have a President who just wakes up sometimes and decides to blurt out whatever market moving talk popped into his head that morning.

The January to April period was particularly bad. There’s been something of a comeback through the rest of the year, but while JEPQ is heading toward breakeven, the rest of the market is setting records and all-time highs and stuff. That chart above is going to look pretty rough when S&P 500 is up 10% or 15% and JEPQ is up 3% or 4%. Forget the NASDAQ.

JEPQ for Income

Of course, the point (sort of) of JEPQ is earning income along with your returns. Assuming you aren’t reinvesting your dividends, JEPQ kicks out monthly dividends.

If you don’t want to pull out your calculator, that’s $4.52768.

So, while your 100 shares of JEPQ you bought on January 2, 2025 is basically break even here in September, you did earn $452.77 in dividends. But, don’t forget if you take those dividends in cash, you don’t get the “total return” number you see on all those graphs telling you this is a brilliant idea.

Look, I’m not here to bring down FinTwit or anybody’s idea of a good investment. JEPQ can be a part of a solid investment strategy. But, if you are managing a fairly sizable portfolio, you probably don’t have the extra capital to be putting in JEPQ.

The Health Savings Account Theory

The idea behind a Health Savings Account, or HSA, is a little bit like a 401k account, or even a 529 college savings plan account. You save money for future expenses like college or retirement, but in the case of an HSA, you are saving for medical expenses. Like with a 401k plan, or an IRA, you get a tax deduction benefit for making contributions. Also, like the other accounts, your money grows inside the account tax free. And, finally, like a Roth IRA, or a 529, you withdrawals for approved expenses are also tax free.

So, theoretically, assuming the world around you proceeded in an orderly and predictable manner, and your budget contained plenty of room for all appropriate spending and savings, then you would contribute regularly to your HSA account, and invest that money, so it could grow over time, into a big reserve that is available to you when you have medical issues down the road. If you are familiar with studying physics, you may remember that in basic physics all the equations work, as long as you are on a frictionless plane, in a vacuum. This is kind of the same thing, for medical finances.

If this doesn’t sound exactly like your life, don’t worry; most people don’t live like that either.

What makes the HSA very different than those other retirement and education accounts is timing. Your child is 10 years old now, they will go to college in eight years. You have no reason to use any of the 529 money between now and then. Likewise, you are 20 years from retirement, so there is no reason to withdraw any money from your IRA or 401k either. Yes, things could change, maybe Junior gets into college a year early, or maybe things go your way and you retire in 15 years, but either way, there is a built in time frame to those accounts. In fact, if you did try and withdraw any of that money sooner, there may be stiff tax consequences.

Medical expenses, however, are not like that. You might need to go the doctor next month, or even tomorrow. In fact, there is a very good chance that you’ll need to withdraw and use money from your HSA account at least once in the next 12 to 24 months. That makes using an HSA unusual for most people.

Using HSA Reality

So, how should you use your HSA in reality?

First, you have to setup an HSA account. Everything starts when you OPEN your HSA account. If you open your HSA on June 1st, and you have medical expenses on June 2nd, you can use HSA money. But, if you open your HSA on June 1st after visiting the doctor on May 31, you can’t use HSA funds for that May visit. So, the most important thing is to open your Health Savings Account as soon as you qualify for it, even if you don’t put any money in it right away!

Second, you have to put money into the HSA. Typically, you can either setup some sort of salary reduction, where money from your paycheck gets directly put into the HSA, or you can link a checking account and transfer money into the HSA, either on a regular basis, or as needed.

Here is where it gets a bit confusing. Many HSA accounts come with a debit card that you can use to pay for your medical expenses. This is great, and it helps with record keeping, however you do not have to use that debit card at all. It is only for convenience. You can actually pay your expenses any way you like — check, credit card, cash — and then reimburse yourself from the HSA account.

What throws people off is that while using the debit card is just like a checking account debit card (you have to have sufficient funds), that functionality has nothing to do with the tax advantages. The tax benefits come solely from the contributions you make to the account. In other words, you get a tax deduction for every dollar you put it, up to the HSA contribution maximum for the year. This is the only thing that matters on your Form 1040, is how much money you put in. You don’t report the money coming out.

How To Withdraw From Your HSA

You do not report the money you withdraw from an HSA to the IRS. And, unlike a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) the company that holds your HSA account won’t require any sort of receipt, or proof, either. You will only need proof if you are audited. Otherwise, no one need cares.

So, how do you actually use your HSA?

The easiest way is to just use your HSA debit card to pay your medical bills, but it isn’t the only way, or even the best way, depending upon your circumstances.

The other way is to pay your bills some other way, and then reimburse yourself. So, perhaps you write a check or use some MasterCard or Visa that you get credit card airline miles or rewards points for. To reimburse yourself, you can either withdraw the money from an ATM using the debit card, or send the money directly to your linked checking account. Your HSA may also provide you checks which you can write to yourself. As long as the total amounts match up over the year, it doesn’t matter how you put the money in and out.

In a lot of ways, this can end up looking like legalized money laundering.

For example, let’s say you open your HSA account on March 1st. On March 5th, you go to the doctor. On March 20th you get a bill for $95. You pay the $95 by mailing in a check. Then, on March 30th, you get paid and $100 comes out of your paycheck into your HSA. On April 5th, you use your HSA debit card to take out $95, and you go to the movies. — That’s all fine. You deduct the $100 contribution, and since there was an allowable $95 medical expense, there are no taxes or penalties on the withdrawal, even though the money didn’t go directly to the doctor.

It can get even stranger. Imagine you have an HSA account open. It has a balance of $50. You fall and go to the emergency room on March 10th. The bill comes to $1300. On March 15th you use your connected checking account to transfer $1300 into your HSA. You wait a few days for the transfer to complete, and then you pay the $1300 bill by calling the billing department and giving them your debit card number over the phone. — That’s fine too. Again, the contribution is what matters. You get to deduct $1300 for making a contribution during the year. It is irrelevant that the contribution was made after the medical expense was incurred. And, the withdrawal is tax-free because you had $1300 in eligible medical expenses, even though they occurred before the contribution was made.

You cannot, however, reimburse yourself for any expense that occurs before your HSA is open, even if you are eligible for an HSA, so open your account, right away.

The key thing to remember is that the money you put IN is your tax deduction. The money you take out does not affect your taxes, so long as it is less than or equal to your medical expenses. You must keep the receipts to prove the amount of the expenses in case you are audited, but no one will ask for them until then.

So, to maximize your deduction, make sure every medical expense you have is either paid from, or reimbursed by, your HSA account, even if you have to put money in after the expense is incurred to do so. Do that, and you’ll maximize your deduction for HSA contributions, which is much better than only getting to write off whatever medical expenses you have above the 10% medical costs deduction.

CD Rate Specials Are Back

Credit unions, like banks, need to balance their deposits against their loans. When loan activity increases faster than deposits, credit unions often turn to CD specials to improve their ability to attract new deposits. And, when things are going good, people tend to tap those home equity loans for summer projects like a new deck, or updated kitchen. More loan dollars requires more deposit dollars and BOOM, rate specials.

People who might not normally bother joining a credit union change their tune when they can pick up a sweet CD rate instead of resigning themselves to a measly 3%. When loans are high (here come the profits) credit unions don’t mind the rate shoppers so much.

These big Colorado credit unions are offering those specials now as we head into Fall, but don’t forget to check out the smaller credit unions in your area. They often offer up even better specials as a way to attract deposits against the big boys. Red Rocks Credit Union down in Highlands Ranch just kicked off a 4.50% for 8 months special, and you can get 4.0% at Metrum Credit Union for 3 months (new money only) or 6 months depending upon your time frame.

Some Current CD Specials (as of 8/18/2025)

• Red Rocks Credit Union 4.50% for 8 months
• Metrum Credit Union 4.0% for 3 months
• Ent Credit Union 4.06% (weird?) for 3 months
• Premier Members Credit Union 4.0% for 6 months

CD Strategy

The way I look at it, if you need a CD, you need a CD. Get the best rate you can and go with it. That being said, if you are watching the news you see that there is a chance that the Fed might cut rates soon. If so, some of these rates might come down too. Although, promo rates like these are deliberately not tied directly to market rates. Think of them like a sale at a store. This isn’t the regular price. These aren’t the regular rates.

If you are concerned about lower rates, then hit up the longer term ones like the 8 month one or at least one of the 6 month ones. You won’t get higher rates for longer because the banks don’t expect rates to stay this high. Nobody wants to lock in paying you 5% for 3 years if rates are going down in 10 months, or whatever.

Biggest Colorado Credit Unions

The 8 Largest Credit Unions in Colorado

As a financial advisor and freelance writer, I have helped many people find the best banking options for their needs. In Colorado, credit unions are a great choice for many people because they offer competitive rates, low fees, and personalized service.

Here is a list of the 8 largest credit unions in Colorado, ranked by total assets:

1. Ent Credit Union

• Assets: $9.8 billion
• Members: 500,000+
• Availability: 40+ branches throughout Colorado

Ent Credit Union is the largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Denver. Ent Credit Union offers a wide range of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products. Ent’s current best deal is high rates on CDs. Members can bet a 5.20% rate on a 6-month standard CD, but an even better offer is 5.0% on a 3-month CD. Cash in on the high current interest rates for just long enough for the Fed to increase them again before locking in your cash.

2. Bellco Credit Union

• Assets: $7.4 billion
• Members: 400,000+
• Availability: 35+ branches throughout Colorado

Bellco Credit Union is the second largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs. Originally created as a credit union for Mountain Bell, Bellco Credit Union offers a variety of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products. Bellco’s best deals include a 6-month CD paying 5.25% APY. You can even earn 2.25% in its Boost Checking account.

3. Canvas Credit Union

• Assets: $4 billion
• Members: 300,000+
• Availability: 33+ branches throughout Colorado

Canvas Credit Union is the third largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Lone Tree, CO. Canvas Credit Union offers a variety of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products. The Canvas deal is a 5.40% 12-month CD. They also offer a Reverse Tier Savings Account which pays more interest on the smaller amount in the account. It’s a gimmick but a gimmick you can make work for you.

4. Elevations Credit Union

• Assets: $3 billion
• Members: 170,000
• Availability: 20+ branches throughout Colorado

Elevations Credit Union is the fourth largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Boulder. Elevations Credit Union was originally the University of Colorado Credit Union, designed to serve the needs of the university’s staff and faculty. Elevations Credit Union offers a variety of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products. Elevations Credit Union is promoting a 4.50% APY 4-month CD with no penalty for early withdrawal. In addition, as the credit union for the University of Colorado, Buff One Banking is back to help CU students with their banking.

5. Credit Union of Colorado

• Assets: $2 billion
• Members: 155,000+
• Availability: 18 branches throughout Colorado

Credit Union of Colorado is the fifth largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Credit Union of Colorado offers a variety of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products.

6. Westerra Credit Union

• Assets: $2 billion
• Members: 115,000+
• Availability: 10+ branches throughout Colorado

Westerra Credit Union is the sixth largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Westerra Credit Union offers a variety of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products.

7. Premier Members Credit Union

• Assets: $1.75 billion
• Members: 80,000+
• Availability: 20+ branches throughout Colorado

Premier Members Credit Union is the seventh largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Premier Members Credit Union offers a variety of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products.

8. Credit Union of Denver

• Assets: $1.1 billion
• Members: 68,000+
• Availability: 2 branches throughout Colorado

Credit Union of Denver is the eighth largest credit union in Colorado. It was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado. Credit Union of Denver offers a variety of banking and financial services, including checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, and investment products.

Are Bigger Credit Unions Better?

When it comes to the biggest Colorado credit unions, these eight take the cake. But is a bigger credit union better than a smaller credit union? The answer lies in the type of service, locations, and products you need for your own banking situation. Remember, a good, in-person, local credit union or bank is the foundation of a solid money management plan.

But, before you can file your income taxes, you’ll need all the forms and information you need to file. For most taxpayers, the main document you need is a Form W2 from your employer. The W2 form reports not only your wages, but also the amounts that were withheld from your paycheck during the year. If you worked for more than one employer, you would need to get a W2 from each one.

If you don’t have a traditional employer, or if you do paid work on the side, you’ll need to collect Form 1099-MISC from all of your clients that paid you more than $600 during 2025. Unfortunately, for people like freelance writers, that means you may have to track down some former clients, especially if you moved and didn’t notify them of your new address. Unlike regular employee types. There are usually no withholdings to report on a 1099 form. Many clients will want to email the forms. That is fine. This isn’t about originals; it’s about the numbers they report matching the numbers you report.

W2 and 1099 Deadlines

If you are wondering when the deadline is to get your W2 form or 1099 form, the answer is a little tricky. For Form W2, the employer is required to “furnish” you a copy by January 31, 2026. But, before you get up in arms, if you don’t have it on the 31st, the employer is considered to have met the furnish requirement if the form is properly addressed and mailed by the 31st so you might just need to wait for the post office to get it to your door.

For a 1099 Form, the deadline is the same. Your clients, and former clients, are required to furnish your forms (mail them) by January 31st. There is an exception if your money is reported in boxes 8 or 14, but that isn’t common for most small business owners and freelancers.

What If I Don’t Get a W2 or Form 1099?

Just because you don’t get a W2 Form or a 1099-MISC Form doesn’t mean that you do not have to report the income. If you didn’t get a W2 from your employer, call HR. They probably have a process in place, especially if it is a larger company. They have no duty to turn it around in 24 hours, or anything like that. Don’t wait until the last minute. By mid-February you should be asking for any missing forms.

If you did not get a 1099 Form for your small business, you don’t actually have to get it. As long as you report all of your income, it doesn’t have to match up with the 1099 forms that you have in your file. However, it can trigger all sorts of red alerts if you claim less income than gets reported on the 1099 forms. Don’t forget, the IRS gets a copy of all 1099-MISC forms with your Social Security number, or EIN, on them, and your clients and employers are certain to send those in. That is how they get to deduct what they pay you as a business expense.

What if your client was not an American company? (There may be different rules for non-American employers. I do not know them. You’ll need to find that information elsewhere. Start with the IRS website.)

Check out this in-depth look at WalletHub and this Acorns investing review.

For a client that is not an American company, they are not going to fill out and submit a form that the American Internal Revenue Service requires. You are still supposed to report the income even if you don’t get a form. Just don’t bother waiting for it because it isn’t coming.

Other Tax Forms

You’ll need plenty of other tax forms as well to justify business expenses, IRA contributions, and more.

Author

By Brian Nelson – Brian is a former Certified Financial Planner and financial advisor with decades of financial experience. He writes for the Finance Gourmet and other financial publications. The material provided on this website is for informational use only and is not intended as tax advice. ArcticLlama, LLC, FinanceNelson.com, and Brian Nelson assume no liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on the material provided. Please note that material may not be updated regularly and that some of the information may not be current. Consult with your own tax professional when making decisions regarding your tax situation.

If you are looking for something similar, but that invests the money and doesn’t calculate its own savings (it’s a roundup savings app) check out my Acorns reviews.

Is Digit A Scam?

The burden of proof for calling something a scam differs based on what exactly it does, and what can be shown from available sources. Digit is a venture capital-backed internet start-up, raising money from, among othe rs, Google’s own venture capital arm. That in itself doesn’t mean it is not a scam, but it does mean that it isn’t some fly-by-night hacker operation looking to steal a few credit card numbers and email addresses.

Is Digit Legitimate?

Since Digit is a legitimate business and not just a scam to steal your banking information, the question becomes whether Digit is necessary. The idea is that if you are not saving as much as you could/should/want to, then could a computer algorithm squeeze more savings out of your monthly cash flow? If so, then Digit is a legitimate service for the harried saver. If you’re already getting every penny, then you are just adding a layer for no reason. This is my review of the Digit automated savings service.

Digit Review

Digit is an automated saving service. If you are familiar with the concept behind the Nest thermometer, then you can consider Digit the Nest of saving.

There are many ways to automate your savings. One of the most popular is the concept of paying yourself first. Deductions that go straight to your 401k plan or automatic transfers to your savings or money market account are examples of this. The trick to this concept is that you have to make some sort of educated guess, from your budget, about just how much to pay yourself before you actually experience the various life events that make up your spending for the month. If you guess wrong for that month and spend more money than expected, you’ll need to ensure that you can transfer some money back (easy from savings, not so easy from your 401k). But what if you spend less than expected? You’ll need to notice and transfer some additional funds to savings.

As is often the case, if you already have a solid grasp on your personal finances and manage your money well, then a new service probably isn’t necessary for you. On the other hand, if you wish you could do better, and might be interested in getting some help, then Digit provides an automated way to increase your savings.

How Digit Works

Most of the press coverage of Digit is using the company-supplied tag line that Digit “finds extra money” and then automatically saves it. Of course, there is no extra money that you didn’t have before, but a computer constantly looking for a dollar or two here or there may just find a few bucks more than you would while managing your finances.

To use Digit, you have to link it to your checking account. You won’t want to link it to a savings account because those accounts are typically restricted to just 6 withdrawals per month, and you don’t want Digit using them up for you.

Once linked, Digit begins to monitor your checking account balance. Over time, it builds up an algorithm that determines when you spend your money, and when you get paid. The idea is that when it sees an opportunity to stash some money away, it transfers it automatically to your Digit account. The company says it checks your account “every 2 or 3 days.” The transfers are typically between $5 and $50.

Here is where it gets a little gray. The Digit website mentions FDIC insurance but doesn’t say exactly where the money is held. It does not appear that you get any statements or interest or anything like that. This is how Digit makes money, they are keeping the interest earned on user’s money while it is in the secret Digit savings account somewhere. When you want your money back, you send a text to Digit and then they transfer the money back into the account they took it out of in the first place.

Digit Stole My Money

There are some people who claim that the Digit app sole my money. In speaking with some of them and with Digit it seems more likely that Digit took too much money at the wrong time. That kind of thing can really put a kink in your finances. If it takes a decent chunk right bfore a big check hits that might leave you saying, “Digit stole my money!”

Is Digit a Good Idea?

The result of our Digit review is that Digit is good, depending on how you manage your money. Whether or not Digit is worth it depends very much on how you currently handle your finances.

For example, I always recommend that people keep a little buffer in their checking account to avoid ever coming up short on an unplanned expense. Digit will eventually drain that buffer away as “extra” money that you could be saving.

For the same reason, Digit is not a good idea for people who primarily use a debit card for their purchases. Digit requires some sort of routine for the algorithm to work. If you normally spend more money in the middle of the month, for example, Digit will account for that. However, if you go out and try and spend $800 on a new bedroom set using your debit card, Digit almost certainly is not prepared for that. Big, unusual expenses are probably going to be Digit’s Achilles heel.

People who get paid monthly will probably find Digit more problematic as well. If you get paid every week, sneaking a fiver out of your checking account probably won’t be noticed because new cash flow is coming soon. But, if Digit pulls $50 out on the 11th, and you don’t get paid until the 30th, then that might be more noticeable.

The best possible people to be using Digit are those that have very set spending patterns and then use a credit card, or debit card from a different account for big purchases. That way, Digit can figure out your spending and won’t ever be blindsided by a big purchase.

In the end, Digit is probably more fun than it is necessary. The fact is, assuming you have extra money each month, the only thing that happens is that it builds up. The premise behind Digit is that unless they took the money first, you would spend it. If that isn’t you, then you can just transfer the money whenever it is convenient for you.

Digit is a very neat concept, but only a small portion of people would actually need it.

That’s a question I get a lot from sole proprietors and other small business owners. The trick is that most information about small business taxes reads like it aimed at larger businesses, specifically, those that have employees. However, the same IRS tax rules that apply to those small businesses apply to entrepreneurs running their own single person business or small family business.

It’s an important question because small business expense deductions can lower your overall tax rates and move you down a bracket on the tax tables.

When Can You Deduct a Business?

There is really one simple test that a business must pass to be tax deductible: Is there a profit motive?

For the IRS, the sole determination of whether something is a hobby, or a legitimate, tax-deductible business, is whether or not you are doing it for profit, instead of for fun. Of course, it wouldn’t be the IRS without hundreds of pages of rules, regulations, and numerous publications sorting out just what is a deductible profit motive.

There is a somewhat legendary tax law case where a man claimed his golf expenses as business deductions. Unlike other situations where a separate business might have a way to deduct some golf expenses, this person claimed that the golf itself was his business. His profit motive was that professional golf pays players and his golfing efforts were dedicated toward that end.

There can be no doubt that some people do make money playing golf. Big names make millions of dollars, but hundreds of other lesser known players make thousands of dollars each year, and you can bet that the IRS taxes every bit of it as income. Those players can, and do, deduct expenses relating to their golf play without drawing any additional IRS scrutiny. However, the person in this case was not on the PGA tour, or any professional golf tour, nor had he made any income from playing golf. The IRS denied that this was a business, and ruled it was a hobby and therefore not deductible.

To the Tax Courts!

This story has a happy ending for the taxpayer. IRS rulings and decisions on matters relating to the tax code can be appealed to the Tax Court. A judge there ruled that the taxpayer’s efforts were a legitimate, if unprofitable, business and that he was entitled to normal business deductions. The ruling was made, in part, because the golfer ran his efforts like a business. He kept meticulous records, he had business plans, and, perhaps most importantly, he routinely competed in the qualifying tournaments that could lead to an income producing spot in a professional golf tournament. Just because he didn’t qualify, didn’t mean he wasn’t trying. After all, an advertising business won’t land every client it pitches either.

For most small business owners, it isn’t quite that complicated, or interesting. If you really think of it as a business, and you really think that you can make money doing it, then it probably counts as a business. However, if you’re going to be making business tax deductions on your Schedule D, you want to make sure that your small business counts as a business and that its deductions are allowed, without going to Tax Court to prove it.

How to Qualify for Business Tax Deductions

Earn a Profit

The easiest way to prove you have a profit motive, is to make a profit. Even the most leisurely, hobby-like, endeavors become unquestionable businesses when you make money doing it. In fact, there is an IRS rule stating that an effort is automatically considered a business and not a hobby if it makes a profit in any three of the five proceeding years. So, if during the last five years you were profitable in at least three of them, the IRS will not dispute whether or not your business has a profit motive.

Beware of misinterpretations of this rule. Many people get confused and think that your business MUST make money in three of five years to qualify. That is not true. The 3 of 5 rule is just one of many ways to establish a profit motive that makes your small business deductible. Also, note that the three years do not have to be consecutive. A profit in years 1, 4, and 5 counts just as much as 3, 4, and 5.

Have Income

The IRS prefers that your business efforts are profitable. Profits mean income, and income means taxes. However, the reality is that not all businesses are profitable. Still, most businesses do have some income. Otherwise, they probably aren’t very good businesses. That income, whether it adds up to a profit or not, can go a long way in showing a profit motive.

The best income is income reported on a 1099 form. That means that another, presumably legitimate business, is paying your business for goods or services.  That means that they also consider you a business, and therefore, maybe the government should too.

If you sell actual goods, then the reports you file with the State for sales tax purposes can fulfill the same role as a set of Form 1099s.

The trick to income is that it needs to be both regular and substantial if you want to use it as proof of a profit motive. If you only earn $500 in January and then deduct thousands of dollars throughout the year, that won’t look as good. You’ll need to find another way to prove your profit motive.

File the Paperwork

Legitimate businesses have forms and paperwork they have to file. Most small businesses have an EIN from the IRS. Many others also have to file some paperwork with their State. The forms to create your business entity, such as an LLC or S Corporation, are further evidence that you have created a legitimate business. In the State of Colorado, for example, businesses are required to pay $25 to file a Periodic Report each year. That expense is not only a business tax deduction, it’s more evidence that your business is more than a hobby.

If you plan to sell physical goods, a sales tax license is a likely requirement. Otherwise if you get audited you can expect a question along the lines of, “How can you say you expect to sell stuff and make a profit if you don’t even have the sales tax license that allows you to legally sell the goods?” — Not fun, but another way to establish your qualified business.

Keep Records

As the example of the golfer shows, sometimes just keeping all the paperwork, emails, and other documentation is all it takes to establish a business profit motive. If you have no income, your documentation of how you go about trying to get income will go a long way.

A freelance writer, for example, who can produce emails, proposals, rejections, and other documentation showing an ongoing effort to land clients will have little trouble establishing the profit motive. A writer with a single query letter on the other hand might have trouble meeting the regular and on-going parts of the definition.

Be Boring and Do Nothing Else

Although not officially criteria in any way, it can help to have a boring business. Certain sole proprietorships attract more scrutiny. The aspiring pro golfer, for instance, seems to be having a lot of fun in his business. The more an activity tends to be thought of as a fun hobby, the more eyebrows it may raise when trying to claim it as a business, while delivering loads of gravel is less like to be a fun hobby.

Finally, when you have a steady, full-time, well paying job, claiming a small, unprofitable, fun, side business can be a tougher sell. A freelance web developer with income, but whose deductions leave him with no profit at the bottom of Schedule D will make a much better case for thousands of computer related deductions than one with no business income, but another job that looks like the “real” income for the taxpayer.

Take Reasonable Deductions

Certain businesses have high start-up costs that might leave even the savviest, profit-minded, entrepreneur with years of losses to deduct. Businesses with physical locations often fall in this category with the business owner not only generating a loss, but owing some loan payments as well.

Otherwise, most sole proprietorships start out lessor expenses in some proportion to their income. Deducting a new laptop makes perfect sense. Deducting a new laptop, an iPad, a new printer, phones, business trips, and much much more for a small, recreational type business, when you have no records, no profits, and another job that provides a sizable income, may look too much like a way to just avoid paying taxes.

Don’t deduct things related to personal property such as the interest on a car loan for personal use.

Take Your Small Business Deductions

In the end, the best sole proprietor business tax strategy is to take every single deduction you can find. Along the way, run your business like a professional, and you shouldn’t have any trouble. That means keeping records and filing the right paperwork. Don’t think you can’t, or shouldn’t, take legitimate tax deductions because you aren’t earning a profit.

Deduct every dollar you can, because the IRS will tax every dollar it can when you do start making a profit.