End-of-Year Tax Prep Checklist
With the year coming to a close, below are 23 year-end planning tax items that I review for my clients that you may find helpful!
Investments
Reviewed maxing out 401(k) or employer-sponsored plan.
Reviewed next year's 401(k) contribution limits and adjust withholdings in January.
Reviewed contributing to an IRA or Roth IRA if allowed (April 15th deadline).
Reviewed taxable accounts for tax loss harvesting opportunities.
Reviewed taxable accounts for taking gains at lower tax rates.
Reviewed the feasibility of a Roth conversion to fill up lower tax buckets.
Reviewed 529 contributions (up to $4,000/account deductible in Virginia).
Reviewed estimated capital gains distributions for any mutual funds held in taxable accounts.
Reviewed whether they are on track to satisfy their required minimum distribution (RMD) from IRAs.
Reviewed HSA contribution if eligible.
Charitable Deductions
Reviewed charitable contributions for the year.
Reviewed taxable accounts for gifting appreciated stock to charity.
Reviewed gifting required minimum distribution (RMD) (QCD) from IRA to charity (age 70 ½ and older).
Reviewed whether to bunch charitable gifts in a high tax year.
Reviewed Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) options for this.
Other
Reviewed year-to-date income vs. prior year and next year to see if it makes sense to accelerate or postpone realizing income.
Reviewed gifts to people to maximize annual gift limits.
Reviewed Medicare Premium Surcharge brackets for tax planning (age 65 and older).
Reviewed bunching medical expenses if possible (if itemizing tax deductions).
Reviewed FSA balances to see if the remaining can be used to prepay medical expenses.
Reviewed pre-paying state taxes so they can be deducted, or postponed if possible to deduct in the next year.
Reviewed the need to take an IRA distribution to cover the gap and avoid underpayment penalty if you expect to owe an underpayment penalty.
Reviewed setting up a Roth IRA for each of your children or grandchildren with earned income (April 15th deadline).
Happy Planning,
Alex
This blog post is not advice. Please read disclaimers.