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By Jeffrey D. Solomon, CPA, CVA
Managing Shareholder
While the tax proposals offered up by both the house and senate down in Washington continue to get changed and debated, it’s hard to know what 2018 will look like from a tax perspective. Suffice it to say, IF some version of the bill passes, some of us will pay more taxes and some of us will pay less. All KNS can say at this point is stay tuned, that it is just too early to know what a final bill will look like. But our December event on year-end tax planning will hopefully have some answers for you so please attend if you so desire. Please see the Events page of our website to sign up.
In the meantime, here are a few steps you can take before December 31st to reduce your tax bite this year.
1) Look at your investment gains so far year to date. We all know the market is up over 15% so far year to date, and many of us have taken some gains. But if you have some unrealized losses in your portfolio, this may be a good time to sell them to offset the taxes on the gains and reposition your portfolio. Contact your financial advisor and have them take a look for you.
2) Determine any charitable giving wishes before year end and make them by December 31st. Remember, the gifting of appreciated STOCK is always a better way to gift than the use of cash. By doing the gifting this way, you avoid paying the taxes on the appreciation of the stock and still get the full deduction for the value. If you don’t know what a Donor Advised Fund is, give us a call as this is a great vehicle for you to use for this type of planning.
3) Lastly, make sure you have maximized your contributions to your 401k plans at work. Remember the limits for 2017 are $18,000 and if you are over 50, $24,000. These amounts should be going up slightly in 2018.
Make sure to contact your KNS tax professional and take stock of what your year-end picture looks like. Our KNS tax planning software makes this task quite easy, and we can give you a good feel of what April 15th will look like!
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