Financial Planning, Millennials

November 8: 20 End of Year Tax Planning Moves W2 Earners Can Make

We are officially approaching the last 2 months of the year which means that you should start making end of year tax planning/financial planning moves. Now you may be wondering, “what are those strategies I should be considering?”

In this blog post I am going to walk you through 20 moves to consider making that can have a huge impact on your financial future.

Let’s get right into it.

  1. Max out your 401k, 403b, 457, etc
  2. Max out your Roth IRA (you have until the tax filing deadline on this one)
  3. Max out your HSA
  4. Max out your 529 plan to the state tax benefit
  5. Use all of your dependent care FSA funds
  6. Use FSA funds as most are use it or lose it
  7. Do tax loss harvesting on your taxable investment accounts
  8. Do some tax gain harvesting within your taxable investment accounts
  9. Consider electing into your ESPP for next year
  10. Sell ESPP funds that became yours in December (if you want to lock in the discount)
  11. Do Roth conversions to maximize lower tax brackets
  12. Exercise ISO’s up to the AMT threshold (or maybe even past if it’s part of your plan)
  13. Exercise NSO’s if it makes sense
  14. Look through your paycheck and make sure you have withheld enough for taxes
  15. Do megabackdoor Roth if your company allows it and you have extra money
  16. Donate cash to charity (maybe even consider bunching/donor advised fund to get even more in deductions)
  17. Donate highly appreciated securities (before selling to avoid the capital gains tax)
  18. Do a cost segregation study on your property and bonus depreciate it while bonus is still at 80%
  19. Invest in a qualified opportunity zone if you have a large capital gain to defer
  20. Prepay property taxes to hit $10,000 max deduction (if married)

All of these can be super impactful. Take a look at which ones apply to you and go make these moves. Your future self will thank you.

Disclaimer: None of this should be seen as advice. This is all for informational purposes. Consult your legal, tax , and financial team before making any changes to your financial plan.