As the holidays approach, it’s time to consider tax planning moves that will help lower your 2024 taxes, as well as set you up for tax savings in future years. Here are seven year-end tax planning ideas to consider.
1. Strategize on the Standard Deduction vs. Itemizing
This is a tried-and-true year-end tax planning strategy. If your total itemizable deductions for 2024 will be close to your standard deduction, consider making additional expenditures for itemized deduction items between now and year end to surpass your standard deduction. Those extra expenditures will allow you to itemize and reduce your 2024 federal income taxes. The 2024 standard deduction is $29,200 for married couples filing jointly, $29,200 for heads of household and $14,600 for singles and married couples filing separately.
Note: Slightly higher standard deductions are allowed to those who are 65 or older or blind.
The easiest itemizable expense to prepay is your mortgage payment due in January. Accelerating that payment into this year will give you 13 months’ worth of itemized home mortgage interest deductions in 2024. Contact your tax advisor to determine whether you’re affected by limits on mortgage interest deductions under current law.
Next, look at state and local income and property taxes that are due early next year. Prepaying those bills between now and year end might lower this year’s federal income tax liability, because your total itemized deductions will be that much higher. However, under current law, the amount you can deduct for all state and local taxes is limited to a maximum of $10,000 ($5,000 if you use married filing separate status).
Also keep in mind that prepaying state and local taxes can be unhelpful if you’ll owe the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for 2024. Under the AMT rules, no deductions are allowed for state and local taxes. So, prepaying these taxes before year end may do little or no tax-saving good for people who are subject to the AMT. While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) eased the AMT rules so that most people are no longer at risk, take nothing for granted.
Other ways to increase your itemized deductions for 2024 include:
- Making bigger charitable donations to IRS-approved charities this year and smaller donations next year to compensate, and
- Accelerating elective medical procedures, dental work and expenditures for vision care if you think you can qualify for a medical expense deduction. You can claim an itemized deduction for medical expenses to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI).
2. Manage Gains and Losses in Your Taxable Investment Accounts
The stock market has experienced plenty of ups and downs this year. You might have already collected some gains and suffered some losses. And you might have some unrecognized gains and losses from stock and mutual funds that you still hold.
If you hold investments in taxable brokerage firm accounts, consider the tax-saving advantage of selling appreciated securities that have been held for over 12 months. The federal income tax rate on net long-term capital gains recognized this year is 15% for most taxpayers, although it can reach the maximum 20% rate at high income levels.
An additional 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT) can also kick in for higher-income taxpayers. So, the actual federal tax rate on long-term capital gains can be 18.8% (15% plus 3.8%), or 23.8% (20% plus 3.8%) at higher income levels. However, that’s significantly lower than the 40.8% maximum rate that can potentially apply to short-term capital gains (37% plus 3.8%).
If you’re holding some investments that are currently worth less than you paid for them, consider harvesting those capital losses between now and year end by selling those investments. Harvested losses can shelter capital gains from the sale of appreciated stocks this year. Sheltering short-term capital gains with harvested losses is an especially tax-smart move because net short-term gains are taxed at higher income tax rates that can reach 37%, plus another 3.8% if the NIIT applies.
If harvesting losing stocks would cause your 2024 capital losses to exceed your 2024 capital gains, the result would be a net capital loss for the year. The net capital loss can be used to shelter up to $3,000 of 2024 higher-taxed ordinary income ($1,500 if you’re married and file separately). Ordinary income can include salaries, bonuses, self-employment income, interest income and royalties. Any excess net capital loss is carried forward to next year — and beyond, if you don’t use it up next year.
In fact, having a capital loss carryover to next year and beyond could turn out to be beneficial. The carryover can be used to shelter future capital gains (both short-term and long-term) next year and beyond. That can give you extra investing flexibility in those years because you won’t have to hold appreciated securities for over a year to get a lower tax rate. You’ll pay 0% to the extent you can shelter gains with your loss carryover.
Important: If you sold a home earlier this year for a taxable gain, you may be able to offset some or all of that taxable gain with harvested capital losses from the sale of losing securities.
3. Donate Stock to Charity
If you itemize deductions and want to donate to IRS-approved public charities, you can combine your generosity with an overall revamping of your taxable investment portfolio of stock and/or mutual funds:
Underperforming stocks. Sell taxable investments that are worth less than they cost and claim the tax-saving capital loss. Then give the sales proceeds to a charity and deduct your donation.
Appreciated stocks. Donate directly to charity publicly traded securities that are currently worth more than they cost. As long as you’ve owned them for more than one year, you can claim a charitable deduction equal to the market value of the shares at the time of the gift. Plus, you escape any capital gains taxes you’d pay on those shares if you sold them.
4. Give Wisely to Loved Ones
The principles behind donating tax-smart gifts to charities also apply to making gifts to relatives and other loved ones. That is, don’t give underperforming taxable investments directly to your loved ones. Instead sell the stock or mutual fund shares and claim the tax-saving capital losses. Then give the cash proceeds to loved ones.
On the other hand, do give appreciated investments directly to loved ones in lower tax brackets. When they sell the shares, they’ll probably pay a lower tax rate than you would.
Before making gifts, however, be sure to consider any gift tax consequences. Also, if any potential recipients are children or young adults, check whether they’d be subject to the “kiddie tax.”
5. Make Charitable Donations from Your IRA
In 2024, IRA owners and beneficiaries who’ve reached age 70½ are permitted to make cash donations totaling up to $105,000 to IRS-approved public charities directly out of their IRAs. The SECURE 2.0 Act now allows eligible taxpayers to also make a one-time QCD of up to a limit that’s annually indexed for inflation ($53,000 for 2025) through a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust. Additional rules apply to such QCDs.
You don’t owe income tax on these qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), but you also don’t receive an itemized charitable contribution deduction. The upside is that the tax-free treatment of QCDs means you can enjoy a tax benefit even if you don’t itemize deductions or if your charitable deduction would be reduced because of AGI-based limits. Also, QCDs can count toward your required minimum distribution, if applicable.
If you’re interested in taking advantage of this strategy for 2024, you’ll need to arrange with your IRA trustee or custodian for money to be paid out to one or more qualifying charities before year end.
6. Prepay College Bills
If you paid higher education expenses for yourself, your spouse or a dependent, you may qualify for one of the following tax credits:
The American Opportunity credit. This credit equals 100% of the first $2,000 of qualified postsecondary education expenses, plus 25% of the next $2,000, for the first four years of postsecondary education in pursuit of a degree or recognized credential. So, the maximum annual credit is $2,500 per qualified student per year.
The Lifetime Learning credit. This credit equals 20% of up to $10,000 of qualified education expenses. The maximum credit is $2,000 per tax return.
For 2024, both higher education credits are phased out if your modified AGI (MAGI) is between:
- $80,000 and $90,000 for unmarried taxpayers, or
- $160,000 and $180,000 for married couples filing jointly.
Numerous rules and restrictions apply. If you’re eligible for either credit and your expenses don’t already exceed the applicable limit, consider prepaying college tuition bills that aren’t due until early 2025. Specifically, you can claim a 2024 credit based on prepaying tuition for academic periods that begin in January through March of next year.
If your credit will be partially or fully phased out because of your MAGI, consider whether there’s anything you could do to reduce your MAGI so you could maximize your 2024 education credit. (Reducing your MAGI could also increase the benefit of certain other tax breaks.) If that’s not possible and your child is the student, see if he or she might qualify to claim the credit.
7. Convert a Traditional IRA into a Roth IRA
If you anticipate being in a higher tax bracket during retirement than you are now and have a traditional IRA, consider a Roth conversion. The downside is that there’s a current tax cost for converting. That’s because a conversion is treated as a taxable liquidation of your traditional IRA followed by a nondeductible contribution to the new Roth account.
While the current tax cost from a Roth conversion is unwelcome, it could turn out to be a relatively small price to pay to hedge against higher future tax rates. If you delay converting your account until a future year and you end up being subject to a higher tax rate — whether because tax rates increase or you move into a higher tax bracket — the tax cost will be larger.
After the Roth conversion, all qualified withdrawals from the account will be federal-income-tax-free. In general, qualified withdrawals are those taken after:
- You’ve had at least one Roth account open for more than five years, and
- You’ve reached age 59½, become disabled or died (i.e., distributions made to a beneficiary).
A Roth conversion makes it possible to avoid potentially higher future tax rates, because you’ve already paid the tax.
For More Ideas
Federal tax law may be uncertain for the next year or so because many of the TCJA provisions are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025 but could be extended. There also could be other tax law changes as a result of the election.
