Luna Papa

Category: Business and Finance

  • Caixa Tem: Atualização do App e Calendário de Pagamentos de Julho 2026

    O aplicativo Caixa Tem passou por uma atualização a partir de 7 de julho de 2026, mudança que afeta milhões de brasileiros que usam a ferramenta para movimentar Bolsa Família, Pé-de-Meia, aposentadorias e pensões do INSS. Segundo a Caixa Econômica Federal, o serviço não deve sair do ar durante a atualização, mas quem usa o Caixa Tem pelo celular precisa manter o aplicativo na versão mais recente para evitar travamentos, falhas de login ou problemas em operações como PIX e pagamentos.

    Por Que a Atualização do Caixa Tem Importa

    O Caixa Tem é hoje a principal porta de entrada digital para benefícios sociais no Brasil, usado por milhões de famílias para receber e movimentar recursos sem precisar ir a uma agência. Qualquer instabilidade no aplicativo afeta especialmente famílias mais vulneráveis, com acesso limitado à internet ou aparelhos mais antigos — por isso a recomendação da Caixa é atualizar o app assim que possível.

    Calendário do Bolsa Família em Julho

    Os pagamentos do Bolsa Família de julho de 2026 começam em 20 de julho e seguem até 31 de julho, em depósitos escalonados conforme o final do Número de Identificação Social (NIS) de cada beneficiário. Quem tem NIS final 1 recebe primeiro, e o calendário avança até o final 0, contemplando o dia 31 de julho.

    O valor mínimo garantido pelo programa é de R$ 600, mas famílias com composições específicas podem receber mais. Uma família com até quatro integrantes, incluindo uma criança de até 6 anos, por exemplo, pode chegar a R$ 750 em julho, somando os complementos destinados a crianças pequenas, gestantes, nutrizes e adolescentes.

    Antecipação para Municípios em Calamidade Pública

    Um detalhe importante deste mês: moradores de cidades declaradas oficialmente em estado de calamidade pública pelo Governo Federal recebem o crédito antecipado para 20 de julho, independentemente do final do NIS. O Ministério do Desenvolvimento e Assistência Social (MDS) divulga a lista completa dos municípios beneficiados antes do início dos pagamentos — em junho, a medida alcançou 207 municípios em oito estados diferentes.

    Pé-de-Meia Também Movimenta o App

    Antes mesmo do calendário do Bolsa Família, o Caixa Tem já recebeu movimentação em 1º de julho, quando a Caixa creditou nova parcela do Programa Pé-de-Meia para estudantes do Ensino Médio regular e da Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA) nascidos em maio e junho, com depósito direto em conta poupança social do aplicativo. O programa funciona como um incentivo à permanência e conclusão escolar na rede pública, permitindo que o estudante pague contas, faça transferências, PIX e use o cartão do programa diretamente pelo Caixa Tem.

    Como Consultar e Sacar pelo Caixa Tem

    Quem ainda não tem o aplicativo instalado pode baixá-lo gratuitamente na Google Play Store (Android) ou App Store (iPhone), fazendo login com CPF e senha numérica de 6 dígitos. Para consultar o saldo, basta acessar “Mostrar Saldo” na tela inicial. Quem prefere sacar em espécie pode usar a opção “Saque sem cartão”, gerando um código válido por duas horas para retirada em caixas eletrônicos da Caixa, casas lotéricas ou correspondentes bancários.

  • Paramount Warner Bros Discovery: Where the $110 Billion Merger Stands

    The Paramount Warner Bros Discovery merger has cleared most of its major hurdles heading into the second half of 2026, positioning Paramount Skydance to complete one of the largest media acquisitions in Hollywood history. Here’s a breakdown of the deal terms, how Paramount won out over Netflix, and what’s still standing between the merger and its finish line.

    paramount Warner Bros

    How We Got Here

    Warner Bros. Discovery initially agreed to a deal to sell its streaming and studio assets to Netflix in December 2025. Paramount, a rival bidder in that process, launched a hostile tender offer that WBD’s board rejected multiple times as inferior, even after Paramount raised its bid. The dynamic shifted in late February 2026: after WBD received a waiver to formally engage with Paramount, the two companies entered a definitive merger agreement on February 27, 2026, with Paramount agreeing to acquire all of WBD in an all-cash deal. Netflix ultimately declined to match Paramount’s offer, with its co-CEOs framing WBD as something that “was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”

    The Deal Terms

    Under the agreement, Paramount will pay WBD shareholders $31.00 per share in cash — a 147% premium over WBD’s unaffected stock price of $12.54. The transaction values WBD at an enterprise value of roughly $110 billion. Paramount is funding the acquisition partly through $47 billion in new Class B shares, backed by the Ellison family, RedBird Capital Partners, and sovereign investors from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar — though Paramount has said those foreign investors will hold no governance rights in the combined company. As part of the FCC ownership disclosures, Paramount noted the combined company will be roughly 49.5% foreign-owned once the deal closes.

    WBD shareholders approved the merger at a special meeting on April 23, 2026, with the proxy advisory firm ISS recommending shareholders accept it, calling it the outcome of “a competitive sales process and public bidding war.”

    Regulatory Progress

    The deal has cleared several major regulatory checkpoints. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division approved the merger in June 2026 without requiring any divestitures or behavioral remedies, concluding it was “not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers.” Australia’s competition regulator also signed off. European Union regulators opened their formal review in June, with a vetting deadline set for July 14, 2026, while the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority opened its own inquiry and is expected to decide by August 7 whether to escalate to a deeper investigation.

    What Could Still Slow It Down

    Despite the DOJ clearance, the deal isn’t fully in the clear. State attorneys general — reportedly led by California and New York — are expected to pursue a legal challenge, and Democratic lawmakers including Senator Elizabeth Warren have pushed the FCC and Treasury Department to scrutinize the foreign investment structure behind the deal, though no U.S. agency has indicated it will do so. Should regulators ultimately block the transaction, Paramount would owe WBD a $7 billion breakup fee, on top of the $2.8 billion it already agreed to cover on WBD’s behalf after the earlier Netflix deal fell through.

    Timeline

    Paramount has targeted closing the deal by the end of the third quarter of 2026 (September 30), though company leadership has acknowledged the pending European review timeline makes an earlier July close unlikely. If the transaction hasn’t closed by that date, WBD shareholders will receive a $0.25-per-share “ticking fee” for every quarter of delay. Either party can walk away from the deal if it hasn’t closed by March 2027.

    This post reflects publicly available deal terms and regulatory filings as of publication and is not financial or investment advice; consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions related to this transaction.

  • HMRC Admitted Overtaxing Millions of State Pensioners Since 2010

    HMRC has formally admitted overtaxing millions of state pensioners in an error dating back 15 years, after an investigation by Telegraph Money brought the issue to light. HMRC chief executive John-Paul Marks apologized in a letter to MPs, calling it a mistake that “matters, particularly to customers on fixed or limited incomes.”

    What Went Wrong

    The error traces back to a change made to HMRC’s PAYE system in 2010. Under HMRC’s own rules, a pensioner’s tax calculation should reflect 51 weeks at the current year’s state pension rate combined with just one week at the previous year’s lower rate, since the state pension rises each April under the triple lock — the guarantee that pensions increase by whichever is highest out of inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5%. Instead, HMRC’s system applied the full 52 weeks at the higher, post-increase rate throughout the year, effectively taxing pensioners as if they’d received the new, higher rate for the entire 12 months rather than just 51 weeks of it.

    Who’s Affected and By How Much

    The scale is significant even if individual amounts are modest:

    • Around 1.4 million pensioners were overtaxed through the PAYE system.
    • Up to 955,000 more in Self Assessment and roughly 760,000 in Simple Assessment may also have been overcharged by the same error.
    • In the 2024-25 tax year alone, HMRC collected more than £2 million in extra tax from those affected, with the average overpayment around £2 per person for that year — small individually, but the error has compounded since 2010-11, meaning long-term losses for some pensioners are considerably higher.

    Why It Took So Long to Surface

    Perhaps the most striking detail is the timeline: HMRC has reportedly been aware of the issue since at least 2019 but only acknowledged it publicly after media scrutiny this year. Marks attributed the delay to the technical complexity of reconciling data between the Department for Work and Pensions, PAYE end-of-year processes, and Self Assessment and Simple Assessment systems, saying a solution had taken this long to develop.

    A tax commentator who helped bring the issue to public attention made the point that the amounts involved are small individually, but that isn’t really the point — the public should be able to trust what government services tell them without needing to independently verify the calculations themselves.

    Will Pensioners Get Refunds Automatically?

    Not automatically, as things stand — HMRC has not committed to issuing automatic repayments. Affected pensioners currently need to contact HMRC directly to have the error corrected and reclaim any overpaid tax. HMRC says it is developing a system fix intended to correct future calculations this summer.

    What Pensioners Should Do Now

    If you’ve received state pension income and paid tax on it via PAYE, Self Assessment, or Simple Assessment at any point since the 2010-11 tax year, it’s worth checking your tax records or contacting HMRC to confirm whether you were affected. Given HMRC hasn’t promised automatic refunds, the responsibility currently sits with individuals to flag the issue rather than wait for a correction to arrive unprompted.

  • EPFO System Delay: What Caused It and What It Means for Your PF Claims

    The EPFO system delay pushed portal outages to July 3, 2026, delayed PF claims, and launched a new member portal. Here’s what happened.

    Millions of Indian salaried workers found themselves locked out of their provident fund accounts for over a week this summer, as the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) pushed through one of the largest technology overhauls in its history — and badly underestimated how long it would take.

    What Happened

    EPFO suspended a wide range of online services starting June 26, 2026, to carry out a planned database consolidation and software upgrade of its claims processing system. The outage was originally expected to last just a few days, with services scheduled to resume by June 29. That timeline slipped almost immediately: EPFO pushed the restart to July 2, then extended it again to July 3, citing on social media that “the process of system upgrade is currently still continuing” and apologizing for the “inconvenience caused.”

    During the blackout, both the Member Interface and Employer Interface were completely inaccessible, meaning subscribers couldn’t log in, submit new claims, check their e-passbook, or complete any online transactions. The UMANG app, a separate government service portal many members use for the same functions, was affected as well. In total, the disruption stretched across roughly seven days before core access was restored.

    The New Portal Arrived Late, and With Its Own Problems

    When EPFO finally reopened services, it wasn’t simply restoring the old system — it launched an entirely new, modernized member and employer portal as part of the migration. That rollout hit its own snag: the new portals were initially expected to go live July 1, but technical issues pushed the actual launch to later that week. One immediate and unwelcome side effect for members: Universal Account Number (UAN) activation, previously available directly through the portal, was reportedly no longer accessible through the same self-service flow after the relaunch.

    EPFO has since cautioned that PF claim settlements may run slower than usual for at least a couple of weeks following the transition, as both staff and the new system work through a backlog and adjust to the updated workflow.

    Why EPFO Did This in the First Place

    The stated goal behind the migration is to modernize infrastructure that has struggled for years with a well-known set of problems: claims requiring manual review due to data mismatches, outdated member records, and general limitations of the legacy system. EPFO processes tens of millions of claims annually, and a significant share of those still require human intervention rather than automated processing — precisely the kind of friction a proper database consolidation is meant to fix.

    If the migration ultimately works as intended, EPFO says members should see faster claim settlements, fewer rejections caused by technical errors, and a more stable e-passbook experience going forward. None of that is guaranteed on a first attempt, and large government IT migrations in India have a mixed track record on both timelines and delivered benefits — but the direction of the effort is at least clearly aimed at long-standing pain points members have complained about for years.

    A New Claims Deadline Is Also Now in Effect

    Separately from the system migration, EPFO has rolled out new claim settlement rules for 2026 that are worth knowing about regardless of the recent outage. Under the updated framework, fully compliant claims — those that don’t require additional verification — are meant to be processed within three days, thanks to an expanded auto-settlement system that increasingly handles claims without manual review. Auto-settlement itself isn’t new, but EPFO has steadily expanded both the categories of eligible claims and the maximum claim amount covered under it over the past two years.

    For claims that do need manual scrutiny, EPFO has set a hard outer limit of 20 days. If a claim isn’t settled within that window without adequate justification, the rules impose a 12% penal interest charge — notably deducted directly from the salaries of the officials responsible for the delay, rather than treated as a routine administrative cost.

    What You Should Do If You Have a Pending Claim

    If you had a claim in progress before the June 26 shutdown began, check the mobile number and email registered with your EPFO account for any status update now that services have resumed. EPFO has specifically advised against submitting a duplicate claim on the assumption that the original was lost during the outage — the original submission should still be in the system and simply delayed, not deleted.

    Employers with pending compliance tasks affected by the downtime should keep clear documentation of the service unavailability. EPFO has historically accounted for system-related disruptions when reviewing employer submissions, and having a paper trail protects against any questions that come up later about missed deadlines.

    ▶ Check Official EPFO Portal Status

    This post is for informational purposes and isn’t financial or legal advice. For account-specific issues, contact EPFO directly through its official grievance portal.