Free checking ends as banks up fees in response to new federal regulation

Hey there Rascals, here’s a piece of financial news that’s not strictly tax related but definitely relevant for anyone with a checking account. According to this article in USA Today, about ⅔ of major banks are ending free checking. This is a move that’s been looming on the horizon for about a year now, but the banks are finally making good on their threats.

Here are some numbers for you on the rapid demise of the free checking account: Only 45% of non-interest checking accounts are still free, as opposed to 65% last year and 76% in 2009. And now the average monthly non-interest checking account … Read more...

Congratulations: you, the taxpayer, now own even more of what used to be America’s biggest bank. That’s right: the government is once again raising its stake in Citigroup by switching from preferred stock (which pays a high dividend, and is basically like a bond) to common stock (which is closer to just owning part of the business).

So, in theory, We The People own 36% of Citibank. And this is considered very big news.

But is it? Consider how much the government is already involved in Citi:

• Most of Citibank’s deposits are guaranteed by the FDIC. Which means that when you deposit money at Citibank, you’re really lending it to the government, which is lending the money back to Citibank.

The taxosphere is abuzz with news as the bailout continues to be debated and revised. Meanwhile, day-to-day tax issues still dominate the discussion.

• Linda P on Yahoo! Answers has run into a stick tax situation: what do you do if someone was paid off the books for twenty years, and wants to settle things with the IRS? After a while, it can be tempting to try getting away with it for just one more year — but as the answerers show, that’s just a way to compound the problem.
• At Don’t Mess With Taxes, Kay Bell wants to know if the home sale tax exclusion caused the housing bubble. As one linked source argues, Maybe it wasn’t