Money, in brief

The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on 20 February 2026 that emergency powers do not let a president impose broad tariffs. [6][7]

US Customs and Border Protection has put the refund bill at about $166bn. [1][9]

By 14 July the US government had paid back $81bn of it. [5]

Only companies that paid customs directly may claim. People who paid the tax through higher shop prices have no route to it. [1]

A study by the New York Federal Reserve in February put about 90% of the tariffs' cost on US consumers and importers rather than on foreign sellers. [2]

Estimates put the cost at $1,000 to $1,500 a year for a typical US household, on goods from clothing to appliances. [2]

More than 3,000 companies sued to secure their refunds, among them Skechers, Revlon, Toyota, Nintendo of America, FedEx and Costco. [1]

FedEx, UPS and DHL billed the tax as a separate line on each invoice, so each can work out what a customer was charged, and all three say they are returning it. [3]

Retailers mostly folded the tax into prices instead, and say they cannot work out how much of any one receipt was tariff. [3]

Walmart said it had received most of the $2.9bn it was owed and would put it into lower prices. Home Depot took about $730m and told investors it would go on higher fuel costs. [3]

Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, said in February he had a feeling the American people would not see the money. [8]

A claim takes 60 to 90 days from filing to the cash arriving. [1]

Why it matters. Watch the class actions against Costco and Nintendo: they are the only route a shopper has, and Nintendo has already asked a judge to throw its case out.

Matthew Stockov, a Costco member in Illinois, sued the US warehouse chain in a federal court, asking it to hand back the price rises it made to cover the tariffs, plus interest. The suit seeks class-action status for Costco shoppers across the US, and says buyers cannot claim from the US government because they are not the importer of record. [12] Nintendo of America faces a similar suit and has asked a judge to dismiss it, saying its customers chose to buy at the price on the label and got the goods they ordered. [3]

Why it matters. These suits are the only route a US shopper has to the money. US Customs will not accept a claim from anyone but the importer. [1][12]

Walmart, the biggest US retailer, told investors it had received most of the $2.9bn in tariff refunds it was eligible for, and that the money would go into lower prices rather than cheques to shoppers. Home Depot, a US home-improvement chain, received about $730m in refunds in a single quarter. Its finance chief, Richard McPhail, told a call that the cash would cover higher petrol and diesel costs, which he expected to fully offset the refunds over the year. [3]

Why it matters. Two chains raised prices for the same tax and made opposite choices about the money coming back. No shopper was asked about either. [3]

Rather than wait or litigate, some importers have sold their tariff refund rights to investment firms, often at a deep discount, reasoning that something now beats a chance of nothing later. [10] The total owed runs to about $166bn, a claim takes 60 to 90 days to pay out once filed, and companies whose goods are tied up in anti-dumping or other customs disputes cannot file at all in the first phase. [1] Peter Crabb and Alison Graham-Larson, professors of finance and law who have followed the cases, describe the remedy as a mess. [10]

Why it matters. A claim on a government can be bought and sold. The higher price a shopper paid in a shop cannot, because it was never written down as a claim. [10]

FedEx, one of the world's biggest delivery companies, filed a claim in the US Court of International Trade three days after the ruling. It asked for a full refund plus interest on everything it had paid under the emergency law, and did not say how much that was. [13][14] FedEx, UPS and DHL each billed the tax as a separate line on the invoice, so each can say what a customer was charged, and all three are returning it. [3][4] Terence Lau, dean of the law school at Syracuse University, calls keeping it unjust enrichment. [3]

Why it matters. FedEx can name the customer and the amount, because the tax sat on its own line. A shop that raised its shelf prices instead kept no such record, so nobody there can be repaid. [3]

US Customs and Border Protection opened an online portal in April for importers to file, having built the system from scratch, including a way to pay money into company accounts. [9][1] Aaron Powell, who runs the electric bike maker Bunch Bikes, filed for about $120,000 minutes after it opened. Rick Woldenberg of Learning Resources, the toy maker whose lawsuit brought the tariffs down, got an error saying the system was busy. [8] Customs told a judge most eligible importers had signed up for electronic payment and were owed about $127bn. [9]

Why it matters. The company that won the case could not file on the morning the money opened. [8]

Alfred Mai, whose San Francisco firm ASM Games makes family card games in China, estimates he paid more than $150,000 in tariffs the court struck down, and spent days asking trade groups and lawyers where to go for a refund. US Customs kept collecting the same tariffs for several days after the ruling before saying it would stop. [11] Joe Kimray, who owns B & W Hardware in North Carolina, paid the tax indirectly through higher wholesale prices and has no claim on anyone. He says he will ask his manufacturers to share. [9]

Why it matters. The claim belongs to whoever cleared the goods through customs, so a shop one link down the chain is in the same position as a shopper. [9]

Within days of losing the case the US government imposed a 10% tariff on almost all imports under Section 122, a trade law that had never been used, and Donald Trump then said it would rise to 15%. Section 122 allows up to 15% for 150 days, after which the US Congress has to act. Industry tariffs on steel, aluminium, lumber and cars sit under a separate law and were untouched by the ruling. [7] A further round of duties of 10% to 12.5% was being prepared in July. [5]

Why it matters. The refund is a single payment. The prices it came from can be put back by another route, and the beginning of that has already happened. [7]

Researchers at the New York Federal Reserve found in February that about 90% of the cost of the 2025 tariffs was carried by US consumers and importers rather than by foreign sellers. Earlier academic work had found the same for electronics, household goods, car parts and clothing. Officials in the Trump administration attacked the study, and one called for its authors to be disciplined. A Penn Wharton model put total tariff revenue collected since 2025 at more than $175bn. [2]

Why it matters. It is the closest thing to a count of who actually paid, and it is disputed by the US government that collected the money. [2]

Michael Pung fell about $2,200 behind on the property tax on his home in Isabella County, Michigan. The county foreclosed and sold the house at public auction for $76,008, against an assessed value of roughly $194,400, and kept the difference above the debt. On 23 June 2026 the US Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the surplus owed to a foreclosed owner is measured by what the auction actually raised, not by an estimate of the property's worth. [6]

Why it matters. It sets how much of their own equity an owner loses when a small unpaid tax bill takes the house, and the answer is whatever the sale room paid that day. [6]

Stephanie Murrin received a notice from the US tax office nearly 20 years after filing her returns, after it found her tax preparer had inserted false items that cut her bill. A federal appeals court held that the usual time limit does not apply when a return contains fraud, even where the taxpayer acted in good faith and knew nothing about it. The US Supreme Court declined to review that decision, so it stands. [6]

Why it matters. The name on the return carries the liability, whoever committed the fraud and whoever kept the money. [6]

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority investigated the country's GBP 6.3bn vet market and found pet owners pay 16.6% more at large groups than at independent practices. Six groups own all or part of more than 60% of UK practices, five of them held by private investment firms. Draft rules would have required a practice to name the corporate group that owns it; the wording was changed to network or group, which lets it keep trading under its original name. The Progressive Veterinary Association has threatened a court challenge. [16]

Why it matters. Whether an owner can find out who sets the prices at their local surgery now turns on one word in a regulator's order. [16]

Average vet prices across the UK rose 63% between 2016 and 2023, well ahead of general inflation, on the competition regulator's figures. Corporate ownership went from 10% of practices in 2013 to 60% now. Louise Burns of Thundersley in Essex was billed GBP 7,783.77 after her Boston terrier needed an emergency operation to breathe, and her insurance covered the first GBP 3,000. UK pet owners spent GBP 6.3bn on vet and pet care in 2024, about GBP 365 for each pet-owning household. [17]

Why it matters. An emergency is the one moment a buyer cannot go and get a second price, and it is when the largest vet bills are agreed. [17]

About a third of people having dental treatment in the UK now pay privately, and fewer than a fifth of those chose to, on General Dental Council figures. A UK-wide analysis by MyTribe Insurance found first consultations up 23% in two years to about GBP 80 and simple extractions up 32% to GBP 139. Root canal charges reach GBP 660 in some places against a GBP 400 average. Britain's competition regulator has opened an investigation into dental pricing. [18]

Why it matters. Treatment that is capped or free for some patients becomes an open-market price the moment no NHS dentist will take them. [18]

Sales of annuities in the UK reached a record, with the average pot used to buy one passing GBP 80,000, on figures from the Association of British Insurers. An annuity turns a pension pot into a guaranteed income for life. Rates have risen sharply: Fidelity International said a healthy 66-year-old with a GBP 300,000 pot could buy GBP 22,440 a year, about 7.5%, against roughly GBP 13,500 five years ago. [19] In the US, a 67-year-old man paying $100,000 in January 2026 would get about $7,800 a year for life. [20]

Why it matters. A product left for dead by the 2015 UK pension rules is selling again because the income it buys has roughly doubled. [19]

From 1 January 2026 a 1% US excise tax applies to certain money transfers abroad where the sender pays with cash, a money order or a cashier's cheque. Transfer companies have to collect it, make deposits twice a month and file quarterly returns with the US tax office, with the first deposit due on 29 January 2026. Treasury and the tax office have granted penalty relief for the first three quarters of 2026 to providers who get the deposit amounts wrong. [21]

Why it matters. The tax applies only when the sender pays in cash, a money order or a cashier's cheque, and not when the money leaves a bank account. [21]

A US federal claims court held in Kwong v United States in November 2025 that tax filing and payment deadlines were postponed for the whole 3.5-year COVID-19 disaster period plus 60 days, to 10 July 2023. On that reading the US tax office should not have charged late-filing or late-payment penalties, nor interest on them, in that window. [22] The National Taxpayer Advocate said tens of millions may be owed money, that it is not automatic, and that most had to claim by 10 July 2026. [22][23][24]

Why it matters. Relief that exists but has to be claimed by a date reaches the people who have an accountant first. [22]

Under Executive Order 14247, signed in March 2025, the US Treasury and the tax office are moving federal payments in both directions onto electronic transfer. Paper cheques and money orders are being withdrawn, on the grounds that they are far more often lost, stolen, altered or delayed than electronic payments. The tax office published an updated set of questions and answers on the switch in January 2026. [25]

Why it matters. A payment made this way needs a bank account, and the US agencies are withdrawing the paper alternative. [25]

The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has set up a fund for places left with no branch, naming Bentham, Filey, Leyburn, Haxby, Settle, Tadcaster and Whitby as the first targets. It will pay for cash withdrawals and deposits, business banking and day-to-day account help. Fiona Whittet, a councillor in Bentham, said reaching a branch in Skipton is hard without a car. [26] In south Devon, the closure of the last bank in Totnes left a 13-mile round trip. [27]

Why it matters. Money that can only be reached by bus carries a travel cost that appears on no fee table. [26]

Shared banking counters opened in Alnwick and Prudhoe in Northumberland, giving the county three; Cash Access UK is still looking for a permanent home for the Prudhoe one. [28] Stamford in Lincolnshire opened one in its arts centre in early September, weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00, a month before the town's Lloyds branch closes on 13 October. [29] The hubs are paid for by the big high-street banks, set up by Cash Access UK and run by Post Office managers, and a customer of any bank can use one. [30]

Why it matters. A hub is only proposed once the last branch in a town has already gone, so every town gets the gap first. [30]

Households in Britain put a net GBP 5.8bn into banks and building societies in April, after GBP 5.6bn in March, on Bank of England figures. Inside that total, GBP 12.0bn went into ISAs, savings accounts with an annual limit whose returns are not taxed, and GBP 1.3bn into accounts paying no interest. At the same time GBP 13.1bn came out of easy-access accounts that do pay interest, and GBP 0.3bn out of fixed-term accounts. [34]

Why it matters. Money moved between account types rather than into or out of saving overall: the net inflow was GBP 5.8bn while GBP 12.0bn went into ISAs. [34]

A jury in the US state of New Mexico found Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, liable under the state's Unfair Practices Act in a case brought by the attorney general, Raul Torrez, over child exploitation on its platforms. The jury applied the maximum in the law, $5,000 for each violation, which came to $375m in civil penalties. Internal documents showed staff and outside child-safety experts had warned repeatedly about the risks. Meta says it disagrees with the verdict and will appeal. [31]

Why it matters. The size of the award came out of a per-violation formula written into state law, not from a judgment about the harm done. [31]

The price of computer memory, the RAM that holds whatever a device is working on, has more than doubled since October 2025, because data centres running AI are buying it in bulk. Steve Mason of the UK computer builder CyberPowerPC said the firm was being quoted costs around 500% higher than a couple of months earlier. Danny Williams of PCSpecialist said increases ran from about 1.5 times to five times, depending on how much stock a supplier held. Memory sits in phones, laptops, televisions and medical devices. [32]

Why it matters. A shortage created by AI data centres reaches a household as the price of a replacement phone. [32]

Britain's telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has banned mid-contract price rises written as inflation plus a fixed percentage. Researchers writing in The Conversation argue the same approach could be applied to energy, insurance and public contracts, where escalation clauses raise prices automatically each year. They also say regulators could make suppliers show the base price separately from the part added for inflation. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority has separately opened a drive on how companies present and justify prices online. [33]

Why it matters. A clause that raises a price by itself removes the moment at which a customer would otherwise have decided. [33]

Brazil began rolling out a reform in 2026 that merges five taxes on goods and services into one value added tax plus a separate excise, finishing in 2033. The headline rate is 28%, with a zero rate on most basic foods. A cashback system partly repays VAT to the poorest households, and at federal level repays water, sewage, cooking and natural gas, energy and telecoms in full. The excise covers alcohol, sweet drinks, cigarettes, combustion engines and lottery tickets. [35]

Why it matters. The cashback part sends money back to the household that bore the tax, rather than to the firm that handed it over. [35]

Sandra Alonso bought a powered, folding wheelchair to get around Tampa, Florida, after her old one wore out. It is made in China, and when she bought it the US tariff on Chinese goods stood at 145%, so she paid an extra $3,500. She imported it through UPS, which emailed to say her refund was in the works and that it takes up to 90 days to pass money on once US Customs pays. At the end of August she had still received nothing. [4][3]

Why it matters. She is one of the few shoppers with a route to the money at all, and only because a shipping firm, not a shop, cleared the chair through customs. [4]