Key Takeaways
- Most tax savings die on December 31; April is for reporting, not planning.
- The biggest levers: maxing pre-tax retirement space, harvesting losses, timing income, and bunching charitable gifts.
- A one-hour December review routinely finds four-figure savings for high earners.
Almost everything that lowers your tax bill has to happen before the year ends. By the time you file in April, you are just reporting history. That is why the highest-leverage hour of a high earner's financial year is a December review of a short checklist, done while every move is still legal.
Here are the twelve we run for clients, roughly in order of typical dollar impact. Not all will apply to you; usually four or five do.
Retirement and Health Accounts First
One: finish your 401(k) or 403(b) deferrals; for 2026 the employee limit is $24,500, with an additional catch-up if you are 50 or older, and payroll deadlines mean acting by early December. Two: fund your HSA to the limit if you have qualifying high-deductible coverage; it is the only account that is deductible going in, tax-free growing, and tax-free coming out for medical costs. Three: if you are self-employed, open a solo 401(k) before year-end even if you fund it later. Four: check whether a backdoor Roth IRA contribution fits your situation before the calendar turns; current limits are at irs.gov.
Portfolio and Income Timing
Five: harvest losses in taxable accounts to offset realized gains, plus up to $3,000 against ordinary income, minding the wash-sale rule. Six: if you sit in an unusually low-income year, consider a partial Roth conversion to fill cheap brackets. Seven: time income where you control it: bonuses, invoicing for business owners, exercising equity. Deferring or accelerating income across the year boundary is often worth more than any deduction. Eight: review mutual fund capital gain distribution estimates before buying into a fund in December, so you do not buy someone else's tax bill.
Try it: the free The Wealth Checkup takes a couple of minutes and shows you where you stand. Or explore tax planning at Attend.
Giving and Family Moves
Nine: bunch charitable gifts. If your itemized deductions hover near the standard deduction, stacking two or three years of giving into one, often through a donor-advised fund, beats giving the same amount evenly. Gifting appreciated stock instead of cash skips the capital gain entirely. Ten: if you are over 70½, qualified charitable distributions from an IRA give pre-tax money to charity and count toward any required distribution. Eleven: annual exclusion gifts to family, $19,000 per recipient for 2026, must be completed by December 31 to use this year's exclusion.
The Final Check
Twelve: run a withholding checkup. Compare tax withheld year-to-date against your projected liability; a January adjustment is too late for this year, a December one is not, and safe-harbor rules can protect you from penalties if you act now. This is also the moment to spot Medicare IRMAA cliffs, estimated payment gaps, and state-level moves.
Our tax planning service runs this checklist against your actual numbers each fall, coordinated with your CPA. Ten minutes with the free Wealth Checkup will tell you whether taxes are one of your gaps.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is it too late for year-end tax planning?
Payroll changes usually need to be in by early December, and trades settle within a couple of business days, so the practical deadline for most moves is mid-December, not New Year's Eve.
Do these moves require an accountant?
A CPA is invaluable for filing, but most year-end moves are planning decisions that must happen before the return exists. The ideal setup is a planner and CPA working from the same projection.
What is the single biggest year-end move?
For most W-2 high earners, finishing pre-tax retirement contributions; for those with appreciated portfolios and charitable intent, gifting appreciated stock or bunching into a donor-advised fund often saves the most per hour of effort.
Tony leads Attend Wealth, a fee-based wealth management firm in Atlanta serving professionals, families, and business owners. Advisory services are held to a fiduciary standard. More about Attend
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