How Tax Planning Works and How It Can Help You

Tax season is over, and summer is officially here, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be thinking about tax planning opportunities as 2023 rolls on. Our firm offers annual tax planning as part of our comprehensive financial planning service. While often overlooked, robust tax planning is one of the most valuable pieces of a complete financial plan, and we are excited to offer it to you. Read on to learn more about how tax planning works and how it can help you! 

What is Tax Planning?

Tax planning refers to our review of your tax return to identify potential planning opportunities - both now and in the future - to keep your lifetime tax liability as low as possible. This is different than tax preparation (usually done by your CPA or an online service like TurboTax), which is focused on keeping you compliant with what the government thinks you owe each year. 

Why is Tax Planning Important? 

Taxes touch every part of your financial life. Your tax return is a financial fingerprint: it's completely unique to you, complete with valuable clues and information, all of which are buried in dozens of pages and hundreds of numbers. Understanding your return equips us to have more valuable and actionable conversations with you. Additionally, we can demystify the world of income taxes and help you understand this important piece of your financial picture. 

Who is Tax Planning For? 

Everyone! Regardless of your income sources or filing status, nearly anyone who pays income taxes can benefit from having a professional review of your tax return to identify relevant planning opportunities. At worst, we'll review your return and conclude you are currently maximizing every available tax-saving opportunity. That's great "peace of mind" news. Alternatively - and more frequently - we'll identify a handful of tax-saving opportunities, both in the current year and in future years. 

What Kind of Opportunities Might Be Identified?

We will evaluate a number of opportunities during tax planning, including topics like most tax-efficient retirement vehicles, charitable giving strategies, realizing capital gains, Roth IRA conversions, tax credit eligibility, and more. We can run projections to see how potential changes (e.g., filing status, dependents, the sale of a business, stock option exercises, etc.) may impact your upcoming tax liability. 

If you have questions about tax planning, please don't hesitate to drop me a note via email. Happy tax planning!