Our Services
Tax Planning
Like many firms, we offer investment management and financial planning.
However, unlike other firms, we also incorporate tax planning into our financial planning process. While often overlooked, robust tax planning is one of the most valuable pieces of a complete financial plan.
Tax planning refers to our review of your tax return, investment portfolio and goals to identify potential planning opportunities – both now and in the future – to keep your lifetime tax liability as low as possible.
What Is Tax Planning?
Tax planning is forward looking. This is different than the tax preparation usually done by your CPA or an online service like TurboTax. Tax preparation is backwards-looking and focused on keeping you compliant with what the government thinks you owe each year.
We can run projections to see how potential changes (e.g., filing status, dependents, the sale of a business, ROTH conversions, QCD’s, stock option exercises, etc.) may impact your upcoming tax liability.
Here are some common scenarios we work on with our clients that require careful tax planning :
- Creating an optimized distribution strategy balancing RMD’s, high taxable income, IRMAA and your wealth transfer wishes.
- Determining an overall portfolio allocation based on your risk tolerance, and then place different assets in specific account types for tax efficiency,
- Modeling out ROTH conversions to determine if they are appropriate for your situation.
- Implementing a tax sensitive plan for the ROTH conversion process.
- Establishing a plan that is sensitive to the “Widow’s tax”.
- Keeping a watchful eye on changes to federal, state, or local tax laws and rates that may impact your situation.
- Developing tax-advantaged wealth transfer and estate planning strategies, particularly in light of the SECURE Act.
Why Is Tax Planning Important?
Taxes touch every part of your financial life. Your tax return is a financial fingerprint: it’s completely unique to you, complete with valuable clues and information. All of that information is buried in dozens of pages and hundreds of numbers.
Understanding your return equips us to have more valuable and actionable conversations with you.
Additionally, we can demystify the world of income taxes and help you understand this important piece of your financial picture.
Who Is Tax Planning For?
Everyone! Regardless of your income sources or filing status, nearly anyone who pays income taxes can benefit from having a professional review of your tax return to identify relevant planning opportunities.
At worst, we’ll review your return and conclude you are currently maximizing every available tax saving opportunity. That’s great “peace of mind” news.
Alternatively – and more frequently – we’ll identify a handful of tax saving opportunities, both in the current year and in future years.
by Launch Kits
