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We’re not even to December yet, but it’s important to start talking about tax planning strategies early. Today, we’ll explain why now is the best time to start planning for your taxes and how you can start.
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Show Notes
If you want to keep more of your hard-earned money with you instead of giving it to the IRS, we have some tax-planning tips you need to know about.
Not many people like it when the IRS puts out its hand and says “Hey, you owe me extra money for taxes.” Part of our job is doing a tax projection for clients. We use the month of October to look at year-end tax planning.
So, what is year-end tax planning and preparation? It’s about taking a look at your tax situation and putting yourself in the best position possible by the end of the year. It might be repositioning your money in different tax buckets. We also look at today’s tax rates and where we think they’re headed in the future.
There are a lot of great tax preparers out there. However, tax preparers are like historians and just look at the past. We do tax planning and look ahead.
First, you should maximize your retirement accounts. If you have the ability to contribute more, now’s a great time to up the percentage of what you’re contributing to your retirement account. You may get a tax deduction today, depending on your retirement account. If your spouse is not working, you can also make a contribution in their name.
Next, check out your Health Savings Account. It’s a triple tax-advantaged account. You can consider it as a retirement account. It’s like a Roth for medical expenses. You get a tax deduction when you put money in an HSA. The bonus is you can invest the money in the account.
Listen to the full podcast or use the timestamps below to jump to a specific section.
[4:50] – What is tax planning
[8:30] – Maximize retirement accounts
[12:00] – Health savings account
[14:30 ]– Roth conversions
[17:40] – Tax gain harvesting
[21:02] – Withholding
[23:34] – Education planning
[25:02] – Charity
[27:32 ]– Legacy planning
Thanks for checking out this episode. We’ll talk to you again soon.
“Now is the best time to really start preparing and planning for taxes.”
-Scott Sierens
