Paper checks issued for tax refunds, Social Security payments and other government benefits have been dwindling and will soon be eliminated, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of Americans. President Trump signed an executive order on March 25 directing the federal government to stop issuing paper checks as of Sept. 30. Instead, government agencies must make payments electronically, by direct deposit to a bank account, debit card or digital wallet. “This executive order will defend against financial fraud and improper payments, increase efficiency, reduce costs and enhance the security of federal payments,” a White House spokeswoman, Liz Huston, said in an emailed statement. Most monthly Social Security payments and annual tax refunds are already paid by direct deposit, agency statistics show. Yet the administration said it was further “phasing out” paper to modernize how the government handled money. A fact sheet about the order said the government aimed to switch “from old-fashioned paper-based payments to fast, secure electronic payments.” Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The order gives the Treasury Department just six months to carry out the mandate — “a very aggressive time frame,” Steve Kenneally, senior vice president of payments with the American Bankers Association, said on an ABA Banking Journal podcast. The order is nevertheless “welcome,” the association said, because electronic payments are “a much faster, cheaper and safer choice” for consumers and the government. The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment. Jennifer Tescher, chief executive of the Financial Health Network, said that doing away with paper checks was the right thing to do but that “consumer awareness and help making the shift” would be critical to making the change go smoothly. “It’s all in the execution,” she said. The White House fact sheet said the government planned a public awareness campaign to inform federal payment recipients of the change and to offer guidance. Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said she agreed that direct deposit was a “best practice” for secure payments. But, she said, newly announced verification requirements for creating online Social Security accounts could mean more people may need government help to set up the payments. That could be challenging, given that federal agencies like the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service are facing significant staff cuts under the Trump administration. How many paper checks are issued by the government? The government’s use of paper checks has long been in decline as a result of various federal efforts and the evolution of payment technology. The government tried to make most federal payments, other than tax refunds, electronic in the 1990s, in an initiative known as EFT ’99. But the effort faced resistance, Mr. Kenneally said in the podcast, often from members of Congress who received complaints from constituents who preferred paper checks. Over time, though, reliance on paper checks has fallen. More than 99 percent of the roughly 69 million monthly Social Security payments are made by direct deposit, according to the latest statistics from the Social Security Administration. Beneficiaries are already required to receive electronic payments except in “rare” circumstances, such as receiving a hardship waiver because of a mental impairment or geographic location, according to the agency’s website. “The government is largely out of the check business,” Ms. Tescher said. Still, about 486,000 paper Social Security checks go out monthly. Another 238,000 paper checks are mailed each month to recipients of Supplemental Security Income, available to people with low incomes who are blind or disabled. Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner of Social Security, said in an emailed statement, “We support this executive order and will comply.” How many people get tax refunds by paper check? The majority of federal income tax refunds are sent by direct deposit. As of March 21, the I.R.S. had issued about 55.7 million refunds for 2024 tax returns, of which about 1.9 million, or about 3.5 percent, were paper checks. (The president’s order isn’t expected to affect refunds for this spring’s tax season, which is nearing its April 15 deadline for most filers, an I.R.S. spokesman said.) The Treasury Department has recently taken other steps to reduce paper, including eliminating the option to use tax refunds to buy the paper version of I bonds, federal savings bonds that protect against inflation. Are paper checks less secure? While some people still prefer paper, checks can go astray in the mail and are increasingly subject to fraud. They can be stolen from mailboxes and cashed by someone forging a signature. In one scheme, stolen paper checks are “washed” with chemicals, to remove the recipient’s name and the amount of the check. The thief then inserts his or her own name and a larger dollar amount. Last summer, two former Postal Service employees were indicted on charges that they stole $4 million in Treasury checks from a mail facility at Kennedy Airport in New York, then sold them to others. What if I don’t have a bank account? The president’s order specified that “limited exceptions” would be made, such as “for people without banking or electronic payment access.” “We’ll have to see how the exceptions play out,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. The number of Americans who are “unbanked,” or lack access to a traditional checking or savings account, has fallen in recent years. Just over 4 percent of households were unbanked in 2023, down from about 8 percent in 2011, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT One reason for the drop is that people can now find low-fee bank accounts through the Bank On program, run by the nonprofit Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, Ms. Tescher said. The program works with banks nationally to certify thousands of safe, low-cost accounts. You can search online to find one that meets Bank On’s standards. And Ms. Saunders noted that people without formal bank accounts could already get federal payments via the Direct Express program, through which the government puts payments on a prepaid debit card, allowing recipients of Social Security, disability or veterans benefits to withdraw cash or pay bills. Direct Express serves about 3.4 million people, most of whom don’t have bank accounts. Its longtime administrator has recently come under scrutiny for poor customer service, and a new bank, the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, will start running the program this year. Does the order affect payments made to the government? The executive order also requires that payments to the government — such as for income taxes and passport applications — must also be made electronically rather than by physical check.

I went to Costco on a tariff run, and did not stock up on anything. It was tempting. Mark Cuban was on social media telling people it was not a “bad idea” to stock up on consumables as President Trump’s trade war unfolded. I love beating the system as much as the next person — it’s my literal beat in journalism. But let’s really think this one through for a minute. First of all, these tariffs may not persist at anything like the amounts currently in the headlines. For stocking up to make sense, you have to assume that price increases will be significant and last for at least a medium amount of time. But let’s assume that both these things happen. Say you have a $1,000 grocery bill each month, and it somehow goes to $1,500 by Memorial Day. While predicting a 50 percent spike feels like a stretch, that extra $500 would be real money. But you also need to have real money — extra real money — to lay a bunch of things away in your residence. Many people don’t, and going into debt to buy extras of everything will probably erase any savings. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Mr. Cuban, via email, said he had made buying shampoo, soap and razor blades in multiples work somehow, even when he wasn’t wealthy. “I started doing it in college when I read the book ‘The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need,’” he said. “When you can save money by buying more than one of something, that’s a guaranteed return.” It can be, if you use it. Most of what we eat, however, is perishable. Many of us waste some of what we purchase. Buying more could mean wasting more food — and more money. Then there’s the practical problem, where we need to invoke the deadpan comedian Steven Wright. “You can’t have everything,” he once said. “Where would you put it?” In an extra freezer maybe, but then you’re spending hundreds of dollars more. As for larger goods, speeding up a car or furniture purchase if you are going to need either thing in a year or two feels risky, especially if you’re borrowing sooner than you might have or pulling money out of beaten-down stocks to do so. That said, some opportunities to save money may present themselves unexpectedly. On Thursday, Ford dropped many prices, seeking headlines and competitive advantage. It could reverse those prices just as easily. We do not know what is going to happen next, and neither does Mr. Trump or the people who surround him. You may be worried about the shortages that occurred in 2020. The supply chain is indeed vast and unpredictable, since toilet paper requires wood pulp and berries need packaging. It is also possible that niche manufacturers will choose not to produce or export if it is unprofitable to do so. Mr. Trump’s advisers, however, are mostly thinking about the money. Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, is out in public making 10-year, $6 trillion tariff revenue projections, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick believes the stock market will do “extremely well” over the medium and long terms. You see what Mr. Lutnick did there, right? The short term might be bad. Or not, though so far it sure seems that way. He doesn’t want to make a short-term prediction, because he has no earthly idea what the markets will do tomorrow or next week, let alone what will happen to the prices consumers pay. What he does know is that in a year or three, most people will have forgotten what he said on Thursday. The futility of forecasting (and the limited utility in listening to people who engage in projectile projections) comes in part because we don’t know how countries are going to react to the U.S. tariffs, or how much courage Mr. Trump will have in maintaining them. Remember, he backed down pretty quickly not long ago when President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico got tough in response to his attempt to rough up her country. On Thursday, she boasted of her “preferential treatment.” At a Costco in Brooklyn, it was business as usual. I watched a few hundred carts exiting, none of which contained unusual amounts of toilet paper or anything else. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT There was just one person I could find trying to get ahead of the tariffs. Mizan Rahman had a dolly filled with Ensure and PediaSure, which he was buying to resell at Fresh Halal Meat and Grocery a few miles away. He had already loaded up on basmati rice. Unlike many Brooklyn residents, he has a basement below the store that he can use. He also has a credit card with zero percent interest for the rest of the year to pay for this bit of hedging. “You have to do something,” he said. “Trump is getting crazy now.” Maybe you have to do something if you’re a business owner and you have the basement and the credit. But in general, the first rule of unexpected news moments is this: Don’t just do something. Stand there. So I stood there, watching, and found little hoarding. Then I sat there with the hordes at the store’s red benches and had one of Costco’s $1.50 hot dogs. The price has not risen in decades. Three years ago, an executive said it never would, either. If it does, that might be a reason to panic.

Three years later, Khadija Zaidi-Rashid still remembers the screams of other passengers, the unsettled expression on the flight attendant’s face and the helplessness she felt holding her infant on her lap. Dr. Zaidi-Rashid, 34, then a doctoral student, was flying from Washington to Doha, Qatar, with her mother and two children when their airplane encountered severe turbulence. Her other child, a toddler, was in a seat next to her, and the half-hour of roller-coaster shaking and bucking felt like hours. Since then — though everyone emerged unscathed — she cannot get over the sense of worry on every flight she takes. “The turbulence has caused me to feel claustrophobic, all kinds of motherhood-related anxiety,” she said, adding that she no longer sleeps during flights. She’s worried that her children, now older, will slip out of their seatbelts they are now required to have. She often keeps her hand on them as a precaution. She’s not alone. In recent months, after a series of terrifying plane crashes and accidents on the tarmac, parents have swarmed online message boards and lit up group chats to unload their anxieties about upcoming flights and longstanding safety norms for family travel. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The accidents, which included a midair collision in Washington and a flipped-over plane in Toronto, have fueled concerns about whether young children on airplanes, particularly infants, are sufficiently protected. The worry has compelled some parents to rethink how they fly, with many considering options ranging from bringing car seats to canceling trips. Keeping Babies Safe in the Air Holding your small child on your lap has been acceptable in air travel for decades. The practice, which airlines allow for travelers under 2 years old to fly free or at a steep discount, saves parents or caregivers airfare. Parents list convenience and their child’s comfort as other key motivators. But the safety of the practice has been debated for decades. Aviation safety agencies around the world have made their position clear: Children are safest in airplanes when they’re secured in their own seats in approved child restraint systems, such as car seats certified for airplane use. “Your arms aren’t capable of holding your in-lap child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence,” the Federal Aviation Administration warns on its website. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency states that several studies have concluded that child safety seats provide “a level of safety equivalent to that provided to adult passengers.” Pediatricians, flight attendants and academics agree. They emphasize the elevated risks of lap children becoming injured. They could be struck by the in-flight service carts or by objects falling from the luggage bins. A 2019 study in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care found that of about 114,000 medical events that occurred on flights between 2009 and 2014, more than 12,000 included children. Of these, roughly 2,000 involved lap children, making them more than “twice as likely to sustain an in-flight injury compared with other in-flight medical events.” But if parents want to use car seats or other safety equipment on board, the rules differ by airline (or even by the seat in the aircraft). What equipment is available also can vary. Some airplanes have bassinets, which can be requested but not guaranteed on the day of travel. Not all car seats fit on smaller planes. In Europe, infant seatbelts that secure a child to a parent are available, though they aren’t permitted in the United States and Canada because of concerns that a child’s abdomen could be severely injured by the seatbelt or the parent. There are even rules that infants cannot be worn in carriers during takeoff and landing, the most dangerous periods of a flight. Lack of Legislation The official language from the F.A.A. about children flying in laps is only a warning, with no legal weight. Legislation even to authorize a new study of children’s safety while flying, introduced in Congress nearly two years ago, has stalled. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The lack of federal regulation about lap children gives parents “the wrong assumption that if it’s allowed it must be safe,” said Jan Brown, a former United Airlines flight attendant. In 1989, Ms. Brown survived an airplane crash in Iowa in which 111 of 296 people on board, including passengers and crew, died. Flight attendants advised parents to place their children by their feet, the standard safety guidance at the time. There were four lap infants on the flight and one, a 23-month-old, died. It is incredibly rare for any passenger to die in a commercial airplane accident, and aviation remains far safer than driving. This was the conclusion of a study on car seat use in airplanes conducted in 1994 by the F.A.A. The report maintained that while car seats were the safest place for children to be, requiring parents to purchase an extra seat would deter them from flying. Instead they’d resort to driving, a statistically more lethal form of transit. However, there hasn’t been substantive research into whether a significant number of families would drive rather than fly because of the cost of buying a seat for their infant, said William McGee, a senior fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit research and advocacy group. “It should be noted that at no time has the F.A.A. actually studied its own theory,” he said. “Instead it has always just been assumed, without any statistical analysis, surveys, public comments or meaningful research, which runs contrary to federal government rule-making procedures.” Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT A Shift in Culture? Lia Tuso, an expert in aviation child passenger safety, said that child safety remains a “deficiency in the airline industry.” Airlines generally don’t note the safety risks of lap children on their websites, just that they are allowed. Hannah Walden, a spokeswoman for the trade group Airlines for America, said in a statement that U.S. airlines “follow the guidance and regulations set by our safety regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.” But a palpable shift in the culture, Ms. Tuso said, may be occurring: Parents are becoming increasingly aware of the risks, using car seats and other alternatives more often on flights. They are increasingly crowdsourcing for guidance on equipment and best practices to avoid flying with their children on their laps. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Though there are plenty of rules for adults flying on airplanes, said Chelsea Nicholls, the mother of a 16-month-old child, it’s as if there are “no rules for the kids.” Ms. Nicholls, 35, a marketing executive from New Canaan, Conn., previously believed flying with a car seat was unwieldy and impractical. Ahead of a recent flight to Florida, however, she purchased her daughter a seat and an F.A.A.-approved harness. “I never felt like I was an anxious person,” she said. “You take your own safety for granted sometimes, but when you’re caring for a young child, so many thoughts start flooding your mind.” Traveling to Florida, Ms. Nicholls said she felt “comfortable and safe” seeing her child strapped into her own seat, especially during the flight’s occasional bumps. “It definitely let me relax a little bit,” she said. Delaney and Jake Steele, of Vancouver, Wash., were on the Alaska Airlines flight in January 2024 with their daughter, Quinnette, when a door plug blew out of the cabin as the plane was ascending. They were sitting five rows back and on the opposite side of the gaping hole. Quinnette, then 9 months old, was on Ms. Steele’s lap. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The sudden loss of air pressure was the “loudest thing you’ve ever heard,” Mr. Steele, 36, said. They struggled to keep the oxygen mask on their daughter, who was screaming and turning redder by the minute. The possibility that her child could have been sucked out of the plane didn’t hit Ms. Steele, 30, until after they landed. She has not set foot in an airplane since. “I don’t know how comfortable I’m going to be taking little ones,” said Ms. Steele, who, along with her husband, filed a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and Boeing, the manufacturer of the plane. The couple now has a second child, age 5 months. “Now, if we fly before they’re 2, it’s a given that they will somehow be strapped in.”

Tax day is nearly here. If you haven’t filed your return for 2024, you’re running out of time. While it has been a fraught time at the Internal Revenue Service, with the Trump administration weighing huge staff cuts and the agency’s head resigning on the eve of tax season, tax returns are still due. Tax professionals report that so far, the agency appears to be functioning fairly well, with returns being processed and refunds being sent. “I’m not hearing anything about delays,” said Susie DiMaggio, board secretary of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, a group for federally licensed tax professionals. Ms. DiMaggio said some clients had asked if they should wait to file, citing President Trump’s musings about doing away with income taxes. Such a plan is improbable, she said. “People should file, no matter what President Trump is saying.” So for those who have yet to file, here are some last-minute tips to consider. When is the 2025 tax deadline? The federal filing deadline is April 15, but there are some exceptions. For example, if you were a victim of a recent natural disaster, such as wildfires in parts of California or severe storms in Kentucky and West Virginia, you have an automatic extension until later this year. Check the Internal Revenue Service website for details. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Most states follow the federal filing schedule, but a few have later deadlines. If I’m not ready to file my tax return, can I get an extension? You can get an extension until Oct. 15 by filing Form 4868 by the April deadline. But note: An extension gives you more time to file, but it doesn’t give you extra time to pay if you owe tax, Ms. DiMaggio said. You should estimate what you owe and send a payment with your extension form. Otherwise, you may face penalties on the balance due for paying late — 0.5 percent of the tax owed for each month the bill remains unpaid, up to a total of 25 percent. That can add up. If you owed $10,000, your penalty would be $50 a month, until the total reached $2,500. If you make a payment toward your tax bill via the I.R.S. website, you can click a box that marks it as a payment for an extension, and a form will automatically be filed for you, she said. Even if you can’t pay all that you owe, you should file and pay what you can. The reason: The I.R.S. needs to receive your return before helping you with a possible payment plan, said Tom O’Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals. “You need to file the return so they have something to react to,” he said. You can even include Form 9465 with your return, requesting an installment plan and suggesting a monthly payment amount. If your suggested amount will pay off the debt within five to seven years, he said, there’s a good chance the agency will approve it. If you’re expecting money back but are pressed for time because of personal circumstances — say, an unexpected health issue — there’s no need to panic and rush to file a return by the deadline, Mr. O’Saben said. That’s because in general, if you don’t owe tax, no penalties apply, he said. But file when you can to claim your refund. What if I didn’t receive a W-2 form? If you’re missing a W-2 form — a wage statement that your employer sends to both you and the I.R.S. showing what you earned and what was withheld in taxes — you should contact the employer right away to ask about it, Ms. DiMaggio said. Many employers make W-2 forms available online, instead of mailing them, so you might simply need to log on to a special portal to retrieve it, Mr. O’Saben said. The I.R.S. says that if you haven’t received a W-2 by now, you should call the agency (have your dates of employment handy), which will contact the employer and request that it send you one. If you don’t receive it in time to file your taxes, you can use your final 2024 pay stubs to complete Form 4852 as a substitute and submit it with your return. Are there still options to lower my 2024 taxable income? If you qualify, you can make tax-deductible contributions to an individual retirement account or a health savings account by the April 15 tax deadline and have them apply to tax year 2024, said Eva Simpson, vice president of member value, tax and advisory services with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. You can contribute up to $7,000 to a traditional I.R.A. for 2024 and an extra $1,000 if you’re 50 or older, the I.R.S. says. The size of your deduction depends on several factors, such as your filing status and whether you or your spouse, if you are married, is covered by a retirement plan at work. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Contributions to H.S.A.s are also tax-deductible, if you have a specific type of health insurance plan with a high deductible. If you’re eligible, you can contribute up to $4,150 (including any employer contributions) for 2024 if you have individual coverage, plus an extra $1,000 if you’re 55 or older, by the filing deadline. Is there a tax break for college savings accounts? There’s no federal tax deduction for contributing to 529 college savings plans, but some states offer deductions or credits on your state taxes. Most of them require the contributions to be made by the end of the calendar year to qualify, but eight (Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin) let you make contributions up until the tax deadline and get a tax break for the prior year, according to the website Saving for College. What if I was owed a refund for 2021 but still haven’t filed a tax return for that year? If you were owed a refund on your 2021 return, which was supposed to be filed in April 2022, time is running out for you to file and claim the money. The I.R.S. generally gives filers three years from the original filing date to submit their returns and receive refunds. So you have until April 15 of this year to file. If you miss the deadline, the Treasury Department keeps the money. More than a million people have unclaimed refunds for 2021, the I.R.S. says. (That year and the next one fell during the Covid pandemic, when people may have been focused on things other than their taxes.) The typical amount is estimated at $781, but it is more than $900 in some states (Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island). In addition, some people may be due even larger refunds because several tax benefits, like the child tax credit and the earned-income tax credit, were increased that year because of the pandemic. So 2021 may be a particularly costly year to leave money on the table. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Are there free options for filing my tax return? The I.R.S. offers several options. If you live in one of 25 participating states and meet certain criteria, you can use the Direct File program to file your taxes online directly with the I.R.S. Taxpayers in any state who had income of $84,000 or less are eligible to file free electronic returns through the separate Free File program, a partnership between the I.R.S. and several do-it-yourself tax software companies. The I.R.S. also offers free online forms that filers can use, regardless of income, to file federal returns.

“I never thought that Medicaid would become an issue in my family, but it has.” That was the first line of a note I received this week from a retired investment industry veteran whose autistic son receives coverage from the program. A similar email arrived from one of the most affluent towns in California. Yes, Medicaid primarily serves Americans with the lowest incomes, and you may not count yourself among them. But now that the program is potentially on the chopping block, as Republicans in Congress seek to make up to $2 trillion in spending cuts, it’s a good time to consider others who qualify. It could be an aging parent who needs nursing home care, whose significant nest egg has been drained after 20 years of retirement. Or it could be a 26-year-old adult child who can’t be covered on your health insurance anymore but is not yet making much money. Or perhaps it’s a severely disabled child. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Millions of people who are financially comfortable now may be just one bad break away from needing Medicaid for themselves or a member of their immediate family. Without coverage, the cost of care for an aging parent or a sick or disabled child — of any age — can be ruinous. Medicaid is a shield against anxiety for the luckiest among us. If there is any chance your family could face enormous bills from situations like the ones that follow, the Medicaid policy debate affects you, too. Long-Term Care Medicaid pays for nursing home and other long-term care for people who have mostly run out of money. (Medicare does not pay for such care in most circumstances.) Often, middle-aged people are astounded when they start helping an aging parent or another relative and find that the median annual cost of a semiprivate room in a nursing home is $111,325, according to an annual survey by Genworth, a company in the long-term-care planning business. They’re relieved when nursing home employees tell them that their parents will qualify for Medicaid once those parents draw down their own funds (or already do qualify) — and it won’t cost the adult children anything. “This is everybody’s coverage,” said David C. Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. Your 26-Year-Old Adult One law that most people don’t appreciate until they hit their 20s (or their child does) is a requirement that health insurers allow most parents to keep that child on their plan until the child turns 26, providing it offers coverage for dependents. After turning 26, they’re on their own. And no matter how well-off you are, it doesn’t guarantee that your 26-year-old will have gainful employment, let alone the kind that has employer-provided health insurance. Enter Medicaid, which often covers individual adults who earn no more than $21,597 annually. The website for KFF, a nonprofit health research group, has a number of clear explainers on various categories of eligibility. (Which state you live in can matter a lot for all categories of Medicaid beneficiaries, and states administer the programs.) People in their 50s don’t usually boast about their 20-something children being on Medicaid. I know of two recipients in my circle in this category, because I inquire about such things. Ask around; they’re probably in your circle, too. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The Disabled For most children with an incurable but not fatal condition — and many adults with a disability that prevents them from working or earning much — there is usually at least one family member managing some aspect of their care. But those family members may not be paying for it. If your minor child has, say, spina bifida or cerebral palsy, your health insurance may not cover every therapy or the health aides who will allow you to avoid becoming a full-time caregiver. Medicaid often steps in to pay for many such expenses, no matter how much the parents earn. Some adult children with autism may not be able to work, drive to work or live alone without a lot of help. But they may still want independence. The assistance and aides necessary for them to live away from family, though, may not be on the family’s dime. Medicaid pays many expenses for those who are eligible, no matter their parents’ assets. So if you’re pregnant or considering becoming a parent, Medicaid is a likely backstop if your child ends up needing an enormous amount of care. The same thing is true if your 20-year-old college student has a disabling accident, your 25-year-old has a severe stroke and only partly recovers or your 30-year-old has a life-altering mental health diagnosis. It may also be true if you want to adopt. When Kelly M. Smith and his partner adopted two brothers from the Connecticut foster-care system and moved them to North Carolina, the boys qualified for Medicaid and stayed on it until they were young adults. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Later on, Mr. Smith’s grandmother turned 100 and could no longer live alone. Medicaid paid for her nursing home care until she died. “Medicaid supports everyone, including us upper-incomers,” he said. Mr. Smith sent me the loveliest picture of his family, and he wasn’t the only one who shared snapshots. But the messages with some of those photos were harrowing. When parents hear about the possibility of even moderate Medicaid cuts, they are scared out of their minds. They’re also teeming with rage at what they see as the cruelty of it all. President Trump has promised not to cut the program. Rhetoric around Medicaid “fraud, waste and abuse” floats in the ether, but there is no formal legislative blueprint yet. All we have for now are the statistics and the stories. The statistics are these: Medicaid pays for roughly 50 percent of long-term services and support (like nursing homes and in-home care), according to KFF, and the program covers more than 70 million people. The stories are yours to tell — and to coax out of others who might otherwise be disinclined to discuss a delicate part of their financial lives. “Talk about it. Celebrate it,” said Brittany van der Salm, who spent years working for consulting firms that helped states improve their Medicaid programs. “It’s something to be proud of. You’ve made a great decision for yourself in seeking and getting care.”

Deciding where to live has always been a high-stakes financial decision, but a changing climate makes it even more critical. Just ask any of the millions of Americans who have already experienced the destruction that a warming planet can deliver to your doorstep. For them, a theoretical risk has already become an all too personal one. More people are facing some degree of climate-related risk, whether it’s exposure to increasingly powerful storms endemic to a hotter atmosphere or a rising susceptibility to droughts. The challenge is knowing just how much risk you face, what you’re willing or able to accept and what you can do to reduce the threats. This is particularly true for people when much of their wealth may be tied up in their home (or will be, if you’re contemplating a purchase). And how do you truly know what’s safe, anyway? There isn’t a manual for this type of assessment, and the threats aren’t fully knowable for the particular region, city or parcel of land you call home (or hope to). But there are more resources now, even if they’re imperfect and incomplete. We delved into many of them and assembled a guide, with a series of questions nested within six sections, to help you gauge the climate vulnerability of a particular place or home. For all too long, weather-driven risks have been shrouded or simply ignored. But there are more warning signals now, and we should heed them and educate ourselves about the relative risks.

When Eleanor H., 66, called the Social Security Administration last month seeking details about her retirement benefits, she didn’t expect to comfort the representative who answered. The woman started sobbing. “I asked her what was wrong, and she said she and her co-workers were informed by email to accept a taxable $20,000 payout or risk termination,” said Eleanor, who lives in New Jersey (she asked to use only her first name out of privacy concerns). The rep still answered all of Eleanor’s questions. “Through her tears she said, ‘What am I going to do?’” The Social Security Administration, which sends retirement, survivor and disability payments to 73 million people each month, has long been called the “third rail” of politics — largely untouchable given its widespread popularity and role as one of the country’s remaining safety nets. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT But in recent weeks, the Trump administration, led by Elon Musk’s crew of cost cutters at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has taken its chain saw to the agency’s operations. The agency has announced plans to cut up to 12 percent of its work force, at a time its staffing is at a 50-year low. It has also offered early retirement and other incentives, including payments up to $25,000, to the entire staff. Many current and former Social Security officials fear the cuts could create gaping holes in the agency’s infrastructure, destabilizing the program, which keeps millions of people out of poverty and large percentages of retirees rely on for the bulk of their income. The actions have caused Social Security employees and former commissioners and executives of both parties to sound alarm bells, saying it would be difficult to repair the damage, which could threaten access to benefits. “Everything they have done so far is breaking the agency’s ability to serve the public,” said Martin O’Malley, the most recent former Social Security commissioner under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. He said he feared that Mr. Musk’s team had taken most of the actions necessary to create a total system collapse, whether in skyrocketing wait times for customer service, system interruptions or a timely payment of benefits. In a statement to The New York Times, the Social Security Administration said that it was “identifying efficiencies and reducing costs, with a renewed focus on mission critical work,” including streamlining redundant layers of management, and is “committed to ensuring Americans get the help they need.” Social Security benefits cannot be changed without legislation passed by Congress. But the delivery of those paychecks — and enabling new people to enroll or make changes — rests upon a complex set of systems that are powered using programming languages developed in the 1970s. The people who can most deftly operate the agency’s old systems are, perhaps not surprisingly, nearing or already eligible for retirement. At least 30 percent of the technical staff in the office of the chief information officer fits in those categories, former executives estimated. “We are looking at a degradation of the system as a whole because we have a whole line of expertise walking out the door,” said Shelley Washington, executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1923, a unit of the federal workers’ union. “They are firing first and aiming later.” He said the delivery of checks for people already enrolled in the system shouldn’t be affected, for now — but it’s becoming increasingly uncertain who will be around to quickly fix issues when they arise. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Michael Astrue, a former agency commissioner appointed by President George W. Bush, said it appeared that Mr. Musk has imported the strategy he used when he bought Twitter, “where you go into some place established, level it and then figure you’re going to improvise your way out,” he said, speaking at a briefing on Thursday held by the National Academy of Social Insurance. “It’s extremely destructive.” Jason Fichtner, who held several positions at the agency, including deputy commissioner and chief economist, put it even more bluntly at the briefing. “It’s more like a drunk operating a wrecking ball,” he said. The White House issued a statement on Tuesday, reiterating that President Trump would not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits.Few dispute that the aging technology needs a reboot. The system hasn’t undergone a major overhaul because Congress hasn’t allocated money for it. It’s also an enormous undertaking, and a lack of continuity in leadership makes it difficult to carry out, current and former technology staff and executives said. It would take an estimated five to seven years and cost more than $2 billion, according to one former technology executive, who didn’t want to be named because the analysis had not been completed. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Though experts familiar with the agency’s operations acknowledged there was room to improve efficiency, they said it was already run leanly. The agency functions on a budget of less than 1 percent of its annual benefit payments, which provide retirement, survivor and disability payments. “This is extremely low,” Mr. O’Malley said, noting that it’s far lower than the administrative costs of private insurers. Confidentiality concerns That hasn’t stopped Mr. Musk’s team. Even without a permanent commissioner, the agency is making big decisions: It has already said it would eliminate 7,000 of its 57,000-person work force, and will close six of its 10 regional offices, which coordinate and provide support to employees. Of its 1,200 field offices that directly serve the public, more than 40 are to be closed, according to Social Security Works, an advocacy group. The group is trying to track the changes, but said that its data was based on an unreliable list released by DOGE. (The Social Security headquarters itself was also on a closings list, then later dropped.) Two dozen senior staff members have announced their departures, including the agency’s top three cybersecurity executives, according to a memo issued on Feb. 28 from Leland C. Dudek, the Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner. He took the reins when Michelle King, the previous acting commissioner, left abruptly after refusing to give DOGE representatives access to private data. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Tiffany Flick, the agency’s former acting chief of staff with 30 years of service at Social Security, recently recounted the events around that episode, which also led to her retirement. She expressed deep concerns about the safety of the confidential data and the program overall, according to her sworn testimony on March 6 in a federal lawsuit. The data, she said, has already been misinterpreted and used to spread misinformation. Mike Russo, the new chief information officer, “seemed completely focused on questions from DOGE officials based on the general myth of supposed widespread Social Security fraud, rather than facts,” Ms. Flick said. The “disregard for critical processes” and the “significant loss of expertise” have left her seriously concerned the programs will not continue to operate without disruption. “That could result in benefit payments not being paid out or delays in payments,” she said. Angela Digeronimo, a claims specialist and a union leader in New Jersey who has been with Social Security for 28 years, said she believed she was witnessing a dismantling of the agency. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT “It will affect the public in a very tangible way,” she said, speaking in her capacity as a union official, noting that it already takes about eight months for applicants to the disability program to learn if they’re eligible. “I hate to say this, but more and more people will die while waiting for a medical determination on their disability claim.” Customer service concerns Nicole Francis, a financial planner in New York, called the agency last month on behalf of a 100-year-old client who wanted to change the bank into which her benefits were deposited. Ms. Francis knew there would be a wait, but she didn’t expect it to be more than two hours. Instead of holding, she visited her client at home and helped her make the change with a new online account. “Not all senior Americans have a trusted representative and should have the option of telephone customer service,” she said. Last week, in an effort to combat fraud, the agency said it would no longer allow beneficiaries to change bank information over the phone — only online or in person. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Mr. Musk has said that he wants to cut waste, fraud and abuse at the agency, but he and President Trump have continued to repeat false claims that millions of dead people are collecting benefits. In fact, the Social Security Office of the Inspector General, which is charged with uncovering fraud and inefficiencies, published a report in 2023 that explains why these people don’t have recorded deaths, but also do not collect checks. “Both Musk and Trump are grossly mischaracterizing the death data,” said Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and a former agency adviser. (Mr. Trump also fired the acting inspector general.) Last week, Mr. Musk, who has called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, claimed that programs like it are used to attract illegal immigrants. The agency has said it collects more than $20 billion in payroll taxes annually from unauthorized workers, most of whom never collect benefits. “Mixing up these allegations of fraud with these partisan attacks, I think, kind of confuses the public,” said Jack Smalligan, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a former deputy associate director at the Office of Management and Budget. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The administration’s aggressive cost-cutting has begun to worry retirees like Eleanor H., who reached the distressed Social Security representative. She said she won’t be able to survive in retirement without her Social Security check, but has become so concerned about the administration’s actions that she called to see how much she would receive if she filed for benefits early, a few months before her full retirement age. Healthy retirees are often advised against claiming early because waiting longer locks in a higher benefit. The representative assured Eleanor that she thought her retirement benefits would be safe. “They will be busy coming for us,” she told her.

Car shopping may be especially challenging this year. President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on all vehicles assembled outside the United States took effect on Wednesday. The tariffs will also apply to imported auto parts, beginning May 3, though carmakers will not have to pay duties on parts like engines or batteries that were made in the United States and later installed in cars in Mexican or Canadian factories. The tariffs could deal a major blow to the auto industry, which has also been affected by a second set of tariffs, 25 percent on imports of steel and aluminum, that took effect last month. This translates to a daunting market for car shoppers, who are already rattled by the high cost of new vehicles and the expensive loans to buy them. What impact could tariffs have on car prices? The potential impact of the tariffs on prices for new American cars ranges from $2,500 to $4,500 for some small crossovers and sedans to $10,000 to $12,000 for full-size S.U.V.s and $15,000 or more for some battery-electric vehicles, according to the latest estimates from Anderson Economic Group, a consulting firm in East Lansing, Mich. The effect on luxury cars imported from Europe and Asia could be much higher — $20,000 or more. The average transaction price for a new vehicle is about $45,000 or more than $48,000, depending on the data source. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT “It’s a crazy situation for consumers, and even more difficult for manufacturers,” said Patrick Anderson, chief executive of the Anderson firm. The impact of the tariffs would vary by car model, since some rely more on imported parts than others. But rather than vastly increasing the price of specific vehicles, the industry is likely to spread increases across all types — “like peanut butter” — to smooth out the price increases, said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at the market research firm J.D. Power. Mr. Anderson said manufacturers would “almost certainly cut back” on models that became significantly more expensive. What if I want to buy a car this year? Much remains uncertain, including how long the tariffs would stay in place. “We literally have no idea,” said Joseph Yoon, consumer insights analyst at the automotive site Edmunds.com. So if a new car wasn’t on your radar, there’s no need to rush to buy one, he said. A car is an expensive purchase. It’s important, he said, to take time to research models and get one that fits your needs and your budget. “Don’t panic-buy a car valued at $47,000.” Still, if you were planning to shop for a new car in the next few months anyway, and the model with your preferred features is available now, it may make sense to buy sooner rather than later. Jennifer Newman, editor in chief of the online car shopping site Cars.com, said that inventories of new cars were plentiful and that tariffs shouldn’t affect vehicles that were already sitting on sales lots. “If you’re thinking about buying a car, you need to be shopping now,” she said. And if you’re interested in an electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid, now could also be a good time to consider one because you may qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 if you buy or lease a new one. (The Trump administration has said it aims to reduce or repeal the credit, although Mr. Trump also went on television last month to announce he is buying a Tesla.) But make sure an E.V. truly “suits you,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of the Consumer Reports auto test center. Weigh factors like how far you typically drive, he said, and whether you’ll have access to a charger at home or at work. Are used cars a better option? Used cars are also expected to get more expensive. Dealers, anticipating potential disruptions in the new car pipeline, are likely to step up purchases of used cars to stock their lots, Mr. Jominy said, and that will help to drive up used car prices. A quirk of the car leasing market is also expected to contribute to a tighter supply of the most desirable used cars — typically, those that are less than five years old. Many car leases last 36 months, and drivers often return them to the dealer when the lease ends, making them available for purchase. But three years ago, in 2022, there weren’t many cars available to lease because of chip shortages and other pandemic-related factors, Mr. Yoon said. So that means fewer off-lease cars are available for sale this year, which tends to raise prices. All of which means that if you’re in the market for a used car, you may pay more for a gently used vehicle or have to consider an older one. The average used car was listed for about $25,000 in January, according to the Kelley Blue Book, a used-car price guide. What’s happening with consumer protections for car shoppers? The Trump administration has moved to hobble the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog agency that oversees consumer loans, including automobile financing, by laying off staff and seeking to limit its funding. (The efforts are being challenged in court.) The bureau had previously been assertive in scrutinizing auto lenders. In 2023, under the Biden administration, the bureau ordered Toyota Motor Credit, the company’s U.S.-based auto financing arm, to pay $60 million for withholding refunds when consumers canceled add-on products like gap insurance. The bureau also accused the lender of falsely reporting that borrowers had missed payments, resulting in “tarnished” credit reports. And last year, the agency flagged illegal practices at auto finance companies, including repossessing cars even after borrowers had made timely payments or received loan extensions. Separately, a new rule adopted by the Federal Trade Commission that was aimed at protecting car shoppers from hidden fees and bait-and-switch pricing tactics at dealerships had been scheduled to take effect last summer but was struck down in January by a federal appeals court. The F.T.C. had said the so-called CARS rule, short for Combating Auto Retail Scams, would make it easier for people to shop around based on a car’s actual price, and would save buyers an estimated $3.4 billion a year. How should I prepare to buy a car? “Buying a car is always a tricky thing to do,” said John Van Alst, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, and uncertainty around the impact of tariffs “really makes it difficult.” Nevertheless, he said, some common-sense rules for buying a car still apply. Before heading to the dealership, research the cost of your preferred model and features. Check your credit report ahead of time and get preapproved for a loan from a bank or credit union so you can compare terms and won’t feel pressured to accept the dealership’s offering. Ms. Newman at Cars.com said that you did not have to negotiate price in person. You can do it by text or email, which can help create a record of the terms offered. Take a copy when you go to the dealer to settle the final details. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT When buying a used car, check independently with a vehicle history service like CarFax or AutoCheck to see if the car has been in an accident or damaged in a flood. Don’t simply accept the dealer’s copy in case it’s out of date, Mr. Van Alst said. There’s also a federal database at vehiclehistory.gov. Check for open recalls at safercar.gov, Mr. Van Alst said. “Don’t buy a car with an open safety recall.” If the reports turn up no red flags, he said, ask to take the car to both a mechanic and an auto body shop for an inspection to make sure the car is mechanically sound and safe. Skip dealer add-ons like gap insurance or upholstery protection. “They’re usually a horrible deal,” he said, adding that they are ripe for unfair markups. Where can I complain if I have a problem? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s complaint portal remains active. You can also complain to state consumer protection offices, which are often run by the state attorney general’s office.

While the slopes may still be open across much of North America, it’s time to think about next season. The major passes, including Epic and Ikon, as well as the smaller Mountain Collective, have recently announced sales for the 2025-26 season. The Indy Pass has already completed its early sales, although opportunities to purchase it will likely resurface later. Though the ski website SnowBrains found that most prices went up between 6 and 7 percent, spring sales are when passes are cheapest. “Now is the time to save and go skiing for under $100 a day,” said Dan Sherman, chief marketing officer at Ski.com, which offers ski packages. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The term “passes” has evolved to encompass prepurchased products that start with one-day tickets and aim to wean skiers off the walk-up window. Vail Resorts said three-quarters of its visitors last season used one of its Epic Passes, saving up to 65 percent on window prices. The strategy, said Mr. Sherman, “is to get people locked in early and reward them with discounted pricing.” Here’s a look at next season’s offerings. Epic Pass Despite a rough 2024-25 season in which patrollers at Vail’s Park City Mountain Resort waged a strike over the holiday season, Vail Resorts broke the introductory-price $1,000 threshold for its 2025-26 Epic Pass, now on sale for $1,051. (Last year the pass started at $982 and ended at $1,107). The pass offers unlimited access to Vail’s 42 resorts, including Vail Mountain and Breckenridge in Colorado, Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, and Stowe in Vermont. Next season, Epic Pass will include five days at Verbier 4 Vallées in Switzerland, with more than 250 miles of runs across six ski resorts. Those purchasing the Epic Pass also get discounts on lift tickets for friends. Pass holders, including those with day passes, receive 20 percent off on-mountain food, lodging, gear rental and lessons. At Ski.com, Mr. Sherman counted more than 50 Epic configurations across variables like age and location. The Epic Local Pass (now $783) offers more restricted access to the Vail portfolio, but unlimited access to 29 resorts, including Breckenridge, Crested Butte and Keystone in Colorado. Epic Day Passes, which can be purchased for intervals between one and seven days, start from $47 to $100 a day, depending on the resort. Vail won’t say when prices will increase, but they tend to rise until going off sale; last year Epic passes were available until Dec. 2. Ikon Pass Sales of the Ikon Pass, offered by Alterra Mountain Company, begin March 13. The $1,329 pass offers unlimited access to 18 destinations, including Steamboat and Copper Mountain in Colorado; Mammoth Mountain and Palisades Tahoe in Calif.; and Crystal Mountain in Washington. Passholders get up to seven days each at 41 resorts, including Aspen Snowmass in Colorado; Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming, and Killington in Vermont. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The pass also covers resorts abroad, including SkiBig3 in Alberta; Kitzbühel; and — new this year — Ischgl in Austria; Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland; Niseko United in Japan; and Valle Nevado in Chile. Ikon also has different subscription levels, including the cheaper Ikon Base Pass for $909, with unlimited access at 14 North American destinations and up to five days at 39 destinations worldwide, with blackout dates. Also subject to blackouts, the Ikon Session Pass is available in increments of two, three or four days at one or more of 43 destinations. A two-day pass starts at $259. Depending on the pass, perks this year include spring skiing, 25 percent off the window rate for friends or family, and discounts on food at several resorts. The Ikon Pass is typically available through early to mid-December. Mountain Collective The Mountain Collective offers two days each at 26 ski areas — many overlap with Ikon resorts — without blackout dates. Currently on sale, the 2025-26 adult pass costs $639 and includes Alta Ski Area and Snowbird in Utah, Aspen Snowmass, Jackson Hole and Sun Valley. Abroad, it includes resorts in Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Japan and New Zealand. Pass holders can get extra days at half off the window rate at most resorts. Friends and family get a 25 percent discount on one-day lift tickets, limited to eight tickets. Indy Pass The Indy Pass offers access to two days each at independently owned resorts, mostly in North America. For the next season, Indy made a guarantee of no fewer than 250 resorts and has added new-to-Indy resorts, including Burke Mountain in Vermont and Corralco Mountain & Ski Resort in Chile. Sales of the $369 pass closed on March 10, but the company suggests joining the waiting list to learn about new offers. Last October, for example, it reopened sales for a few weeks, closing Nov. 10. With just two days at each resort, Indy Pass best serves skiers interested in trying several resorts.

They were conned by skilled online criminals into draining their retirement savings. After the shock, shame and grief that followed, the victims were often left with something else: an enormous income tax bill. Mary Ellen Strange, a 75-year-old widow who was deceived by fraudsters impersonating federal investigators, now owes the Internal Revenue Service an estimated $100,000 this year. Linda Gilmore, an 80-year-old former nurse, has to pay nearly $50,000. Cindy, 62, and Tina, 51, a married couple in California, owe roughly $250,000 to the federal and state governments. Lori, a sales executive in North Carolina who owed $225,000 in the 2023 tax season, decided that filing for bankruptcy was her best option. (Several victims agreed to participate in this article if only their first names were used because of privacy concerns.) Like thousands of others, they were drawn into cybercriminals’ fabricated worlds, which are built upon intricate plot lines and a mastery of manipulation. They had been led to believe that the scammers were government officials, Amazon fraud investigators or potential love interests, and they were tricked into transferring large sums for any number of concocted reasons. The punishing tax bills arise because the victims pulled from individual retirement accounts or 401(k) plans, where money is taxed when it’s taken out. The withdrawals inflated their incomes, even though the funds disappeared shortly after being passed to the criminals. The victims are left with few options. Ms. Strange lost nearly $378,000 — and that’s before taxes. “It is a double punch,” she said. “It is a gut punch from your own government after you have been robbed blind.” There used to be an easier way for people with the largest tax bills to deduct these losses from their income, using a tax deduction for victims of personal casualties, disasters and theft. But that and many other individual breaks were eliminated or narrowed as part of the Republican-led tax overhaul known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which helped to pay for broader tax cuts, including a reduced corporate tax rate. The current structure of the deduction now treats victims unevenly. It can be used only with certain types of scams, even though all scams are built on a similar foundation of lies, often spun by organized criminals in faraway scam factories overseas. The tax deduction, in its pared down form, says that personal casualty and theft losses can be claimed only in situations like federally declared disasters or “transactions entered into for profit.” That means deductibility now depends on whether the victims had a goal of profiting when they entered into transactions with scammers. Victims who lost money on a sham crypto trading platform operated by criminals working in Thailand, for example, have a more clear-cut path to tax relief than a person who lost the same amount to criminals posing as government officials claiming the money needs to be moved to be protected from a global hacking ring. “This leads to profoundly disparate impacts: those that thought they were making a buck by investing with a cryptocurrency ‘guru’ are better positioned than those who fell victim to a romance scam,” Patrick Thomas, a tax lawyer, said in a letter included in a 2024 report from the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Victims may also qualify for another type of relief, offered after the Bernie Madoff scandal, if their circumstances qualify as something related to a Ponzi scheme, which is also generally investment related. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT But the relief options are less clear for the many others lured into different schemes. “It’s a complete inequity in the current system,” said James Creech, a director at the tax advocacy and controversy practice at Baker Tilly, a large accounting and advisory firm in San Francisco. He said there were three reasons people were usually pulled into these schemes: financial, fear and love. “But when you get to fear, that is where you get into the gray area” of the law. He said he still tried to navigate the possibilities for his clients. Some victims who don’t fit neatly within the confines of the casualty loss deduction may still have defensible cases, he said, particularly those who thought they were safeguarding their income-producing retirement money from criminals so that it could continue to grow over time. “But there’s a lot of work to get there,” Mr. Creech said. “This is one of those things where it really involves kind of a deep conversation with the client. My caveat with that is that it’s truly an unknown,” he added. The I.R.S. hasn’t issued any broad guidance for online victims, but some tax lawyers have said they hear it is being developed. To help support a case, tax experts say you need to document everything the moment you realize you’ve been a victim of a scam: File a police report with local officials (though they’re not always familiar with these crimes) and federal ones, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. If you decide to confront your scammers, first take screen shots of any online platforms or apps that you used to communicate with them, as well as online conversations, photos or anything related (such as a snapshot of a company name they used or a web address that you realize isn’t quite right). You should also create a timeline or narrative of the events. “If you don’t have the evidence and the substantiation because it’s 18 months later and you’ve been paralyzed with fear, there isn’t much you can do,” Mr. Creech said. Ms. Strange, the widow who lost nearly $378,000, received the initial call from her scammers last June while her dog was chasing the carpet cleaners in her home, “barking up a storm.” That was the beginning of a seven-week ordeal of transferring money to multiple fake federal agents, using Bitcoin, gold bars and cash, all in an effort to prove her money was indeed hers and not obtained through money laundering. “You think they are taking care of you,” she said, adding they made sure she had enough money to pay for her extensive dental work. “You think they have your interests at heart.” Instead, they took off with her retirement savings, leaving her with $100,000 in an annuity. Ms. Strange is now trying to navigate how to approach her 2024 tax return and liability of $100,000. She said she planned to pay her typical tax amount, and then weigh the options available given her circumstances. One option she is considering is a settlement with the I.R.S. known as an offer in compromise. That allows taxpayers to pay the I.R.S. less than they owe because of an economic hardship, but settlements can be difficult to qualify for, especially for people with any home equity or other assets. “With offers, generally the worse situation a taxpayer is in, the easier it is to get an offer accepted,” said Nancy Rossner, executive director of the Community Tax Law Project, which provides free advice to lower-income taxpayers with complicated tax situations. Lori, whose romantic impostor left her with a $225,000 federal tax bill, decided to pursue a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, where she will pay her creditors, the I.R.S. chief among them, about $5,700 a month for five years. That cleared away the $200,000 in loans she took out to help the impostor with his business, and it allowed her to keep her home and a car — a better outcome than the payment plan the I.R.S. had offered, which was only slightly less but would have left her saddled with the other debts. “I have one choice — and it’s to get through it,” Lori said, adding that she was thankful for her AARP support group. “The real outrage is the protections that were in place through the federal government regarding income tax have been removed. It’s a disgrace.” Ms. Gilmore, the 80-year-old retired nurse, is now living on Social Security benefits and two small annuities, and she has secured affordable housing for $2,100 a month. She was defrauded by an online criminal posing as a priest she had known for 30 years. The scammer reached out to her on Facebook and ultimately made off with all of her liquid retirement savings. That generated a nearly $47,000 tax liability, which includes about $11,000 in state taxes owed to California. The way the states treat these situations can amplify a victims’ losses, tax experts said, generating huge tax liabilities of their own. “I didn’t sleep for seven weeks,” said Ms. Gilmore, who started seeing a therapist and taking a small dose of an antidepressant. She said she was also carrying credit card debt from the scammer. “I’m waiting for a reply from I.R.S. after I sent them papers they requested,” she said. “I reported everything, but I’m sure they can’t do anything about it.” For now, the future of tax relief for victims of online scams is uncertain. The casualty and theft loss deduction is set to spring back in its original form at the end of this year if the sweeping 2017 tax law expires. But Republicans are trying to extend that package. There were efforts in Congress last year to bring attention to these giant tax bills, including the 92-page report from the Senate Special Committee on Aging, led at the time by Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. Other lawmakers drafted legislation to offer more comprehensive and retroactive relief, dating back to 2018 when the deduction was curtailed. But they haven’t made it into law. Even the original casualty loss deduction was limited. It could be claimed only by taxpayers who itemized deductions on their returns, which means the total amount of those deductions had to exceed the standard deduction for it to be worth it. And the deduction applied only to losses that exceeded 10 percent of their adjusted gross income. “It’s really like a triple punch,” said Tina, who, with her spouse, Cindy, lost $1.2 million over six weeks to internet thieves. “We lost all of our retirement, we owe the I.R.S. a lot of money and then we have to go into further debt to hire legal representation.”