What is your biggest budget expense item? For most of our clients the answer is…Income Tax!
What can we do about it? - Plan ahead!
The best time to start income tax planning is when you have last year’s completed return.
What can we control? What can’t we control?
Can Control
- Structure of our investment portfolios
- How we may take advantage of financial market volatility
Cannot Control
- Current tax rates
- Financial market volatility
Planning Techniques
Libraries of books have been written about the following techniques we may implement for a more effective approach to reduce the impact of income taxes. And…guess what?…they are all out of date every time congress updates the rulebook!
We will comment, at a very high level, on various techniques that may be suitable given your personal facts and circumstances.
- Your marginal bracket - is the percentage of tax you pay on your last dollar of income. In 2020 if you file jointly and your adjusted gross income is between $171,051 and $326,600 your marginal bracket is 24%, which is the impact on additional money that may be earned or saved from using some of the techniques referenced below.
- Which investments are generally taxed as ordinary income at the higher rates?
- Bank interest, CD interest, government, and corporate bond interest, et. al.
- Much of the dividends from foreign stocks.
- Short term capital gains Form (1040 Schedule D Part I)
- Non-qualified portion of income dividends from mutual funds and ETFs.
- Taxable interest (Form 1040 item 2b; Schedule B Part I)
- Ordinary dividends (Form 1014 item 3b; Schedule B Part II)
- Note: Ideally you may want to own more of these higher-taxed investments in retirement accounts only subject to tax when taking money out, not when receiving income.
- Which investments are generally taxed at lower tax rates?
- Tax exempt income (i.e. from most municipal bonds; Form 1040 item 2a)
- Qualified dividends (Form 1040 item 3a)
- Long term capital gains (Form 1040 Schedule D Part II)
- Note: Ideally you want to own more of these investments outside of retirement accounts.
- How can you invest and reduce current taxes at the same time?
- Contribute the maximum to tax-deductible retirement plans.
- Consider tax deductible KEOGH or Solo(k) plans for directors’ fees and other consulting income.
- Harvest tax losses when markets and securities are down and below their cost basis. See our Tax Loss Harvesting article here.
- Other considerations:
- Consider giving low-basis stock rather than cash.
- Consider using Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) when you are over 70 ½.
- Bunch your charitable deductions every other year if you are unable to itemize.
- Consider donations to a Donor Advised Fund.
- Consider the impact of taxable gains when you rebalance your portfolio.
- Consider putting low cost basis mutual fund positions, especially those with significant built in capital gains, on cash dividend payout to avoid compounding capital gain distributions.
- When you need distributions from investments to pay for spending shortfalls, consider developing a distribution strategy rather than investing purely for higher yields. Reaching for yield may increase risk and reduce growth potential.
- Run a “What if” scenario to evaluate whether it may make sense to convert some of your taxable retirement plans to Roth retirement plans.
- Use tax-smart charitable giving techniques:
- Your primary investment objective should be good economics…not tax avoidance. Old Wall Street adage: “Don’t let the tax tail wag the investment dog”
Action steps
- Review last year’s tax return and look for sources of tax that may be avoided in the future.
- Engage in a discussion with your tax preparation professional.
- Engage in a discussion with your investment professionals.
Our goal with this short article is to both stimulate a tax-awareness mentality but also present a few of many additional ideas that may enable you to increase your after-tax wealth.
Please contact us to discuss any questions you have or schedule a meeting.
This information is not meant as tax or legal advice. Please consult with the appropriate tax or legal professional regarding your particular circumstances before making any investment decisions.