Current Events in December 2024

With the beginning of income tax filing season just weeks away, the IRS says millions of taxpayers will qualify for the IRS’s Free File, which as the name implies, is free.

For taxpayers who have used, and paid for commercial tax-filing software, the procedure should be very familiar. You answer questions about your income and deductions and the software fills out the tax forms. The service is for people whose adjusted gross income is $79,000 or less. That includes a huge segment of the population.

Adjusted gross income, also known as AGI, is defined as total income minus deductions, or "adjustments" to income that you are eligible to take.

• Gross income includes wages, dividends, capital gains, business and retirement income as well as all other forms income.

• Examples of income include tips, rents, interest, stock dividends, etc

• Adjustments to income are deductions that reduce total income to arrive at AGI.

  • Examples of adjustments include half of the self-employment taxes you pay; self-employed health insurance premiums; contributions to certain retirement accounts (such as a traditional IRA); student loan interest paid; educator expenses, etc.

You can find your previous AGI on your 2022 federal tax return to use as a guide. Take a look at Line 11 if you filed a Form 1040.

Two ways to file

The IRS Free File Program is a public-private partnership between the IRS and many tax preparation and filing software industry companies that provide their online tax preparation and filing for free. It provides two ways for taxpayers to prepare and file their federal income tax online for free:

• Guided Tax Software provides free online tax preparation and filing at an IRS partner site. These companies deliver this service at no cost to qualifying taxpayers. Again, taxpayers whose AGI is $79,000 or less qualify for a free federal tax return.

• Free File Fillable Forms are electronic federal tax forms, equivalent to a paper 1040 form. You should know how to prepare your own tax return using form instructions and IRS publications if needed. It provides a free option to taxpayers whose income (AGI) is greater than $79,000.

Make sure you start the process on the IRS website. Going to a commercial software company’s website will not provide access to Free File. 

Currently, the official Free File site is closed, but will reopen in early 2025 when the IRS is ready to receive 2024 federal tax returns.

Earlier this year, a report came out highlighting the health and safety risks that Amazon employees face during high-volume times of year – the holidays, Prime Day sales, etc. 

Now, Senator Bernie Sanders (I – Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), is leading a group of legislators with the release of a report entitled, “The Injury-Productivity Trade-off: How Amazon’s Obsession with Speed Creates Uniquely Dangerous Warehouses.” 

Senator Sanders has been conducting an ongoing investigation of Amazon’s warehouses since June 2023, working with current and former Amazon employees to get a better understanding of the safety measures in place. 

Ultimately, this work has led the Senators to a clear conclusion: Amazon prioritizes speed and efficiency, not their employees’ safety and well-being. This leads to high rates of injury, which the company has disregarded. 

What’s happening at Amazon?

Since this investigation began in June 2023, the HELP Committee has interviewed nearly 500 current and former Amazon employees. They’ve conducted over 135 virtual and in-person interviews, which translated to over 1,400 documents, photos, and videos to support the interview topics. 

While the full report is 160 pages, the HELP Committee has outlined 10 primary findings in its investigation: 

1. Amazon manipulates its workplace injury data to portray its warehouses as safer than they actually are.

2. Contrary to its public claims, Amazon imposes speed and productivity requirements on workers, commonly called “rates.” 

3. Amazon forces workers to move in unsafe ways and to repeat the same movements hundreds and thousands of times each shift, resulting in extremely high rates of musculoskeletal disorders.

4. Although Amazon has safety procedures in place, the company’s required rates make those procedures nearly impossible to follow.

5. Amazon’s failure to ensure safe working environments—based in large part on its unsustainable rates and productivity quotas—results in debilitating injuries. 

6. Amazon has studied the connection between speed requirements and worker injuries for years, but it refuses to implement injury-reducing changes because of concerns those changes might reduce productivity.

7. Amazon actively discourages injured workers from receiving outside medical care, putting injured workers further at risk. 

8. Workers who need short-term or permanent workplace accommodations for work-related injuries and disabilities experience significant challenges obtaining appropriate accommodations.

9. Amazon terminates workers injured in the company’s warehouses who are on approved medical leave.

10. Amazon deflates the injury numbers it records for federal regulators.

What does Amazon say?

In the Senators’ report, they say that they’ve reached out to Amazon several times to learn more about the company’s injury protocol, the quotas the company imposes on workers, how injured workers are treated, and more. According to their account, Amazon has presented very little to the Committee as it relates to these issues. 

Amazon, however, has released its own statement in response to the recent report, adamantly denying the claims. 

“We’re disappointed that Sen. Sanders has published a pre-conceived and one-sided narrative instead of a factual report. We’d hoped this report would have taken into account the thousands of pages of information, data, and details we provided throughout this investigation, and the conclusions drawn would be based on facts,” the company said. 

“But, the false information in this report doesn’t change reality: Our safety progress is well documented, and we’re proud of it. We’re grateful to our 1.1 million frontline employees and 9,000 health and safety professionals around the world who work hard every day to ensure a safe, comfortable, and inclusive working environment.” 

Scams are a threat all year round, but in December, as many people plan end-of-the-year charitable contributions, there’s usually an increase in scams that take advantage of good intentions. One scheme in particular could also land the donor in trouble.

The IRS is warning taxpayers to be aware of fraudulent tax schemes involving donations of ownership interests in closely held businesses, often marketed as "charitable LLCs." These schemes, which primarily target higher-income individuals, are deemed abusive transactions by the IRS and can lead to severe financial and legal consequences.

The IRS emphasizes that taxpayers are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of their tax returns. Engaging in these schemes to reduce tax liability can result in the assessment of the correct tax owed, along with penalties, interest, and potential fines and imprisonment. Charities are also cautioned against inadvertently enabling these schemes.

While legitimate deductions for donations of closely held business interests are permissible, unscrupulous promoters sometimes lure taxpayers into schemes involving false charitable deductions. These schemes typically involve creating limited liability companies (LLCs), transferring assets into them, and then donating a majority percentage of nonvoting, non-managing membership units to a charity. 

Meanwhile, the taxpayer retains control of the voting units and can reclaim the assets for personal use. In some cases, promoters may even control the charity receiving the donation.

The IRS is actively investigating these abusive transactions using a variety of compliance tools, including thorough audits and civil penalty investigations. The IRS says hundreds of tax returns have been filed using this scheme, leading to criminal convictions, including a promoter pleading guilty and a donor convicted of obstruction.

Red flags

To avoid penalties and potential legal repercussions, the IRS advises taxpayers to be vigilant against abusive transactions marketed by unscrupulous promoters. Key red flags include promises of personal benefits beyond tax deductions, transactions involving the creation of entities solely for donations, and arrangements allowing personal use of donated assets.

Properly claiming a charitable contribution deduction for a donation of a closely held business interest requires meticulous record-keeping. Taxpayers must document the name and address of the charitable organization, the date of the contribution, and a detailed description of the business interest. 

Additional requirements vary based on the value of the claimed deduction, including obtaining written acknowledgments, completing specific IRS forms, and securing qualified appraisals for larger donations.

Dementia, which can affect people as they age, may have many different causes or contributors. A recent study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America points to a new one.

Researchers have identified skeletal muscle loss as a significant risk factor for developing dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease (AD). This research highlights the potential of using brain MRI scans to detect early signs of muscle deterioration, offering a proactive approach to managing dementia risk in older adults.

Skeletal muscles, which account for about one-third of a person's total body mass, are essential for movement and physical activity. However, as people age, they naturally experience a decline in muscle mass. 

The study, led by Dr. Kamyar Moradi and a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, focused on the temporalis muscle—a muscle located in the head that aids in jaw movement—as a marker for generalized skeletal muscle loss.

The study involved 621 participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort, all of whom were initially free of dementia. Researchers utilized baseline brain MRI exams to measure the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the temporalis muscle. 

Participants were divided into two groups based on their CSA measurements: those with large CSA and those with small CSA. Over a median follow-up period of 5.8 years, the study tracked the incidence of AD dementia, changes in cognitive and functional scores, and brain volume alterations.

A significant increase in risk

Findings revealed that individuals with smaller temporalis muscles were approximately 60% more likely to develop dementia, even after adjusting for other known risk factors. Additionally, these individuals experienced greater declines in memory, functional activity, and brain volume.

"This is the first longitudinal study to demonstrate that skeletal muscle loss may contribute to the development of dementia," said  Moradi. 

The study's co-senior author, Dr. Marilyn Albert, emphasized the importance of early detection through brain MRI, which could facilitate timely interventions such as physical activity, resistance training, and nutritional support to mitigate muscle loss and reduce dementia risk.

Farmers Insurance says it will resume offering several types of insurance coverage to new customers in California, including condominium, renters, umbrella, landlord, vacant, and manufactured home insurance. Many of these coverage options had been paused for over a year.

The company plans to begin reintroducing these policies on December 14, 2024, starting with condominium and renters insurance. Farmers will also increase the number of homeowners policies it accepts from 7,000 to 9,500 per month.

This decision comes after regulatory changes in California, aimed at stabilizing the state's insurance market amid challenges such as wildfire losses. Farmers said it is optimistic about the improvements in the market and hopes to offer more coverage options as the state’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy is implemented.

Farmers will reopen coverage options in phases, with the following dates:

• Condominium and Renters insurance: December 14, 2024
• Personal Umbrella insurance: December 24, 2024
• Manufactured Home Landlord insurance: March 1, 2025
• Dwelling Fire Landlord and Vacant insurance: March 15, 2025

Additionally, Farmers resumed accepting new applications for business insurance earlier this year and lifted its moratorium on new commercial automobile insurance policies in July.

Buy-herbal.com has issued a recall of all lots within current expiration dates of Nhan Sam Tuyet Lien Truy Phong Hoan capsules. A Food and Drug Administration analysis has found these products to contain undeclared furosemide, dexamethasone and chlorpheniramine. 

Furosemide was found at 5.24 mg/g or 1.84 mg/capsule. Dexamethasone was found at 2.22 mg/g or 0.780 mg/capsule. Chlorpheniramine was found at 4.38 mg/g or 1.54 mg/capsule. 

Products containing these drugs cannot be marketed as dietary supplements. The FDA said Nhan Sam Tuyet Lien Truy Phong Hoan Capsules is an unapproved drug for which safety and efficacy have not been established and therefore, subject to recall.

What to do

Buy-herbal.com is notifying its customers via email who have bought the product on buy-herbal.com to return for a refund of the recalled product.

Consumers who have Nhan Sam Tuyet Lien Truy Phong Hoan subject to recall should stop using the product and contact info@buy-herbal.com for return and refund. Please ship the recalled products to 136-61 41st Ave, Box # 248, Flushing, NY 11355 and contact info@buy-herbal.com for refunds.

Consumers with questions regarding this recall can email info@buy-herbal.com or call 917 495 6088 on Monday through Friday from 10 am till 6 pm Eastern Time. Consumers should contact their physician or healthcare provider if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking or using this drug product. Customers can contact info@buy-herbal.com for return and refunds.

Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax.

There has been a significant decline in mortgage lending in 2024, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which released its annual report on trends in the mortgage market today.

Both loan applications and originations fell by about a third from 2022, with refinancing activity experiencing a sharper drop, especially for single-family homes. In fact, refinancing originations were down nearly two-thirds from 2022.

The number of mortgage applications decreased by about 4.3 million, or 30.3%, from 2022, while originations decreased by 2.7 million, or 32.2%.

Refinancing of single-family homes fell by 64%. Most of the refinance originations left in the market were a small number of cash-out refinance loans.

Rising interest rates contributed to higher monthly mortgage payments, with the average payment for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increasing by $250 from December 2022 to December 2023. Despite this, the average debt-to-income ratio for home purchases stayed stable, likely due to lenders focusing on higher-income borrowers.

In 2023, more than half of all borrowers paid discount points, with a significant increase from 2022. Additionally, the median total loan costs rose for both home purchase and refinance loans.

Notably, Hispanic and Black borrowers saw the largest increases in loan costs.

Independent mortgage companies continued to dominate the market, originating more loans than banks or credit unions. The report also found that the median total loan costs for refinance loans saw a sharp rise compared to home purchase loans.

The report highlights key shifts in the mortgage market, including the rise of non-depository institutions and the growing burden of rising costs on borrowers.

Popular shopping apps regularly violate their users' privacy, new research says.

Around 60% of the most popular Android shopping apps are in potential violation of Google Play's privacy policy standards, according to a review by research firm Comparitech of 91 apps internationally in November .

On average, the shopping apps requested access to 26 permissions, eight of which Android classified as high level or "dangerous," including access to body sensors, calendars, calling, camera, contacts, GPS location, microphone, storage and texting, Comparitech said.

Thirty-two of the apps requesting access to an Android device's camera and media files didn't disclose they would in their privacy policy and 12 apps requested access to location data also without disclosure, Comparitech said.

Groupon, for example, requested access to the device's camera but doesn't mention needing access in its privacy policy, Comparitech said.

In response, a Groupon spokesperson told ConsumerAffairs "that the camera permission has been removed from our Android app manifest," starting in Android 24.14.

"Going forward, the camera permission will only be requested from users when it is necessary," the spokesperson said, "for example, when they choose to upload a photo with a review for a specific deal."

The findings come during the holiday shopping season, where nearly 1 in 5 shoppers will use an app to make purchases in 2024, according to a survey by Bain & Company. 

What were the shopping apps violating privacy?

The apps requesting the most dangerous permissions in the U.S. were Amazon Shopping, which requested 20 dangerous permissions, followed by AliExpress at 19 and Flipkart at 18.

An Amazon spokesperson told ConsumerAffairs that its "mobile app requests permissions for device functions that enable us to provide helpful features to our customers, such as the ability to visualize products in their home with their device’s camera or search for products using text-to-speech."

"Customers have full transparency into the device permissions we request in the Permissions dashboard within the app and can control which permissions they allow to enable specific features, providing an additional level of control beyond their device’s settings," the spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for AliExpress told ConsumerAffairs the company is "deeply committed to our users’ privacy rights and information security, considering them core to our promise of a secure and reliable platform"

"We have put in place thorough data security measures, including regular reviews of our data practices to uphold our ISO certifications for data security. We will persist in safeguarding user privacy and security, following all applicable laws and regulations," the spokesperson added.

The other companies didn't respond to requests for comment from ConsumerAffairs.

Auto lenders that offer a strong digital experience through their websites and mobile apps have much higher customer satisfaction levels and greater self-service usage. But according to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Automotive Finance Digital Experience Study

 40% of automotive finance digital experiences fail to meet basic standards for modern design, ease of use, and problem-free operation.

The study highlights that only 2% of auto finance websites and apps deliver a truly comprehensive digital experience, meaning they allow customers to verify payoff amounts, view account balances, and select payment amounts.

“Lenders have a huge opportunity to build customer loyalty and advocacy by fostering streamlined, two-way communication, but far too many are treating their digital properties as a transactional portal that only exists for bill pay,” said Patrick Roosenberg, senior director of automotive finance intelligence at J.D. Power.

“These digital properties should be seen as two-way portals to communicate with customers on a month-to-month basis, while improving customer satisfaction and reducing cost to serve,” he said.

Lags behind others

Additionally, the auto finance industry lags behind other sectors like wealth management, retirement plans, and insurance in terms of digital experience.

The study also found that non-captive auto finance apps (those not tied to a specific brand, like Chase Auto) tend to outperform captive apps (like GM Financial), likely because non-captive apps use more advanced mobile banking frameworks.

GM Financial ranked highest among captive lenders in digital experience satisfaction, while Chase Auto led among non-captive lenders. The study is based on responses from over 6,000 automotive finance customers.

For more information about the U.S. Automotive Finance Digital Experience Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/us-automotive-finance-digital-experience-study.

Florida has a new program called "Elevate Florida" and it's not about raising the state's image or profile. It's about raising its houses in areas that are prone to flooding. 

Florida’s emergency management director announced the program this week. It offers grants and low-interest loans to assist with home elevation, which is expected to reduce future insurance claims and legal disputes as flooding and storms become more frequent.

Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Division of Emergency Management, said the program will integrate existing federal and state resources for the first time.

Homeowners impacted by recent storms can apply for grants to elevate their homes above the base flood level, though they must contribute 25% of the total cost.

A new idea?

“This has never been done before,” Guthrie said. “When we presented this, the mitigation and resiliency guys at FEMA said that no one has thought of that before.”

To cover this down payment, homeowners can access Small Business Administration (SBA) loans up to $500,000, with favorable terms (no interest for the first year and a 2.8% interest rate thereafter), he said.

The funding for the grants is essentially federal. Some $2 billion in federal disaster relief funds were made available after Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton hit Florida this fall. Most of that can be used to assist stricken homeowners, but some of it can also go to elevation and mitigation programs, Guthrie said. 

The federal government has allocated $2 billion in disaster relief funds for Florida, which can be used for elevation and mitigation projects. Additionally, homeowners may use the SBA loans to refinance existing mortgages, often at lower interest rates.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today urged consumers to beware of package delivery text message scams. These messages often state that there’s an issue with your delivery and include a link to “resolve” the problem.

Package delivery scams can occur more frequently over the gift giving season, when holiday shopping is in full swing.

“The gift giving season is in full swing, and with it, comes a parade of package deliveries. Scammers can take this opportunity to use fake delivery text messages and fraudulent links to steal consumers money or personal information,” Bonta said.

“Beware of these scams, avoid clicking on unexpected text message links, and slow down — scammers prey on urgency.”

Follow these tips to protect yourself:

Be Suspicious of Unexpected Messages. Ignore unsolicited text messages, emails, or phone calls claiming issues with a package delivery. 

Don’t Click the Link! Never click on links from unknown senders or emails claiming to be from a delivery company. Instead, go to the official carrier website and enter your tracking number directly.

Be Skeptical of Payment Requests. Delivery companies do not ask for payment to release a package or correct a delivery error. Any such request is a scam.

Look for Red Flags. Scammers often use words like "urgent action required" to pressure you into clicking a link. Be cautious if the message lacks personalization (e.g., "Dear Customer") or contains spelling or grammar errors.

Enable Package Alerts. Sign up for alerts from trusted carriers like UPS, FedEx, or USPS. These alerts will notify you of package updates directly from the source. 

Monitor Your Financial Accounts. Regularly check your bank and credit card statements for unauthorized transactions, especially after suspecting a scam.