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This article was originally published by Documented, an independent, non-profit newsroom dedicated to reporting with and for immigrant communities in New York City. The original article can be accessed here.

The holiday season is here, a time when countless immigrants in the United States are sending a little extra money back home to their families. But now, many are bracing for a new financial hurdle: effective January 1, 2026, a federal 1% remittance tax will go into effect, adding a new cost to the cash, checks, and money orders that millions of immigrants rely on to support loved ones abroad.

The U.S. is the world’s largest sender of remittances, with an estimated $93 billion sent abroad through formal remittances in 2024. A significant portion of that comes from immigrant workers, people for whom remittances are not discretionary, but essential to their families.

In New York City alone, residents send approximately $10 billion to relatives overseas and were charged more than $500 million in transfer fees to do so. The addition of the federal 1% remittance tax would pull an additional $100 million from immigrant households on top of the existing fees.

For individuals like Steve, a Guatemalan construction........

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