Article Highlights:
- When to seek professional assistance
- Examples of times where tax saving moves can be made
Waiting for your regular appointment to discuss current tax-related issues can create problems or cause you to miss out on beneficial options that need to be timely exercised before year-end. Generally, you should call this office any time you have a substantial change in taxable income or deductions. By doing so, we can advise you about how to optimize your tax liability, avoid or minimize penalties, estimate and pre-pay required taxes, document deductions, and examine and explore tax options. You should call this office if you or your spouse:
- Receive a large employee bonus or award
- Become unemployed
- Change employment
- Take an unplanned withdrawal from an IRA or another pension plan
- Retired or are contemplating retirement
- Moved or otherwise changed your address
- Sold or purchased a home
- Exercised or are planning to exercise an employee stock option
- Have significant stock gains or losses
- Refinanced or plan to refinance your home mortgage
- Get married
- Separate from or divorce your spouse
- Sell or exchange a property or business
- Experience the death of a spouse during the year
- Inherit property
- Turn 72 during the year
- Increase your family size through birth or adoption of a child
- Start a business, acquire a rental property, or convert your home to a rental
- Receive a substantial lawsuit settlement or award
- Get lucky at a casino, lotto, or game show and receive a W-2G
- Plan to donate property worth $5,000 ($500 if a vehicle) or more to a charity
- Plan to gift
- more than $16,000 to any one individual during the year
