While death and taxes are the only guarantees in life, paying to file taxes is up there as a near certainty.According to page 107 of the 2024 Form 1040 instructions, the average cost of filing a basic federal 1040 tax return was $160 for a non-business taxpayer in 2023.In addition, the Tax Foundation estimated that total tax compliance costs — including fees, lost productivity and out-of-pocket expenses — cost American taxpayers over $546 billion each year, or 1.9% of the U.S. GDP.In a Wednesday (Jan. 8) press release from digital banking platform Chime, the company announced all new and existing members can file their federal and state taxes directly within the Chime app at no cost, bypassing the costs associated with using third-party software or traditional tax preparation services.“When Chime members e-file their taxes through Chime in partnership with [tax filing FinTechs] april and Column Tax, filing is completely free,” the release said.According to the release, “a successful pilot program” that began in 2023 led to the launch of free in-app tax filing for all Chime members.Chime’s chief product officer, Madhu Muthukumar, commented in the release: “Getting your money back from the government shouldn’t cost you money. By providing completely free in-app tax filing, we’re empowering Americans to unlock their financial progress confidently, making tax season easier and more rewarding.”Some additional highlights of the program being touted by Chime are that members can receive their federal tax refunds up to “six days early” with direct deposit into their Chime accounts and filing in “under 24 minutes.”PYMNTS reported that Chime Financial submitted a confidential filing for an IPO in December, and could possibly go public sometime this year. The company declined to comment.Another PYMNTS report focusing on this year’s FinTech IPO outlook noted that the climate seems right for several FinTech players to go public and see if investors take notice. The FinTech IPO Index is up more than 58% through the previous year

1Global medical device maker to make Miami its HQInspireMD, a publicly traded developer of a stent system for the prevention of stroke headquartered in Tel Aviv, today announced it has selected Miami for its global headquarters, as it prepares for its U.S. launch and commercialization of its CGuard Prime carotid stent system in the first half of 2025, if approved.“Together with the ongoing build-out of world class commercial and operational teams and supporting infrastructure, our new U.S.-based headquarters will be key to driving long-term growth and serving the U.S. market while creating sustained shareholder value,” said CEO Marvin Slosman.General Manager of US Business Peter Ligotti said the company was attracted to South Florida’s “rich history of medical device innovation.” Indeed, standout companies in the medical device space well known in the Miami tech community include Insightec, Neocis, DermaSensor and many others.“This access to talent and capacity provides excellent capital to build our company as we ready for our U.S. launch,” added Peter Ligotti, General Manager of InspireMD’s U.S. Business. InspireMD will be building up its marketing, training and sales operations teams in South Florida.2Top 1NCE exec in Miami to co-lead the global company1NCE, a global software company with its North American HQ in Miami’s Brickell, has promoted Ivo Rook to Co-CEO