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Tax Planning 2020
Believe it or not, we’re about three months from the end of the (calendar) tax year. However, there’s still time to lower your 2020 taxes. Here are some commonly used approaches to reducing taxes. Lower Your Income via a Tax-Deferred Savings Plan Tax-deferred savings plans let you reduce your Adjusted Gross Income by the amount […]
Retirement Accounts & Taxes
You probably already know that there are several common ways to save for retirement. These include 401(k) and IRA accounts. What you might not be as familiar with, is how these various retirement vehicles are taxed. There are four concepts in the taxation of retirement accounts. First, some accounts allow you to invest money without […]
2019 End-of-Year Financial Planning
Is it really time to think about the end of the year? Well, there are only three months left and there’s the question of whether you really want to try to jam financial planning in with Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, maybe it’s a good time to think about end-of-year financial planning. Here are a few […]
Adjusting Withholding for Taxes
You probably remember that the government passed some extensive tax law changes late in 2017. These were called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Early in 2018, the IRS reduced withholding rates to account for some, but not most, of the tax law changes. (For many of us, this resulted in higher take-home pay which […]
Higher 401(k) and IRA Limits for 2019
I know you’re familiar with 401(k) and IRA plans. Hopefully you’re already contributing to both of them! If you’d like to reread some previous articles on these savings plans, please check out 2018 Financial Resolutions, Financial Planning Resolutions and Plan Now to Minimize Your Taxes. As of January 1, you can sock away even more […]
Donor-Advised Funds
Donor-Advised Funds, or DAFs, are merely a tax-efficient way to make charitable contributions. They work pretty simply. You make a contribution to a DAF and they distribute it to a qualified charity. You can advise them on how much to give to each charity. (Strictly speaking, DAFs do not have to heed your advice, but […]
Reducing 2018 Taxes with Qualified Charitable Distributions
You are probably aware that the tax laws are changing in 2018. However, many of us aren’t crystal clear on all of the details of these changes. For example, deductions are changing. The biggest deduction change is that the standard deduction has increased. The increase applies to all taxpayers. As an example, it’s $24,000 for […]
As 2017 Winds Down…
Can you believe it, we’re only a month away from the end of the year! For many of us, we’re pretty busy with our normal activities (work, school, etc.) and then we have the holidays to prepare for too. It seems like there’s no time for anything else and yet there may be some very […]
Is a Backdoor Roth IRA Right for You?
First of all, what is a Backdoor Roth IRA? It’s merely a way to contribute to a Roth IRA when your income exceeds the contribution limit of $183,000 (for a couple filing jointly). The Backdoor Roth IRA procedure removes this restriction. It involves a simple two-step process. First you contribute up to $5,500 to a […]
Plan Now to Minimize Your Taxes
There are a number of ways that many of us can us to lower our tax bills. These include Traditional IRA and 401(k) contributions, gifting, charitable contributions, income deferral, offsetting investment gains with losses and so on. Many of these techniques can be implemented late in the year when your tax situation is more clearly […]