Wholehan Marketing
I’ve said it before, and every year at this time I like to send out the reminder that the Fourth Quarter of the year should be looked at as Tax Season. Most of us generally think of tax season as the first quarter of the year as we all prepare to file our taxes by April 15. However, filing our taxes in the first quarter of the year is generally nothing more than looking backward at the previous tax year and coming to the realization of what we did do, what we didn’t do, and what we should have done in our finances as it relates to our taxes for the previous year. Generally speaking, it is too late to do anything that we realize that we should have done for the prior tax year when we look at it in first quarter of the new year. The fourth quarter of the year provides you and your clients time to make the moves that you should make to impact your taxes for the current year. Deductions for things like Long-Term Care Insurance premiums, Health Insurance premiums and expenses, Qualified investment contributions, etc. can generally only be taken on tax returns for the year in which they were actually written. Required Minimum Distributions (RMD’s) need to be addressed by year-end. LIRP and other Life Insurance plans (like Key-Person and Executive Bonus Plans) need to be funded before year-end. Now is the time to look ahead and address these issues to help clients make the financial moves this year that will help save them tax dollars next year. Contact the experts at Wholehan Marketing and let’s take a look now at your clients’ income, deductions, and potential moves they can make this year to help put their finances in a better position before year end, and realize the tax benefits when the “typical” tax season begins.