Insights
Tax Planning
7 articles on tax planning, newest first.
Most tax savings are decided before December 31, not at filing time. How tax planning works with me.
- Tax PlanningBunching Deductions: Doubling Up Every Other Year
If your itemized deductions sit near the standard deduction, giving two years of gifts in one year can beat giving the same amount every year. Here is the 2026 arithmetic.
- Tax PlanningHSA Rules for 2026: Limits, Eligibility and Where People Slip
An HSA is deductible going in, untaxed while it grows and tax free coming out for medical costs. Qualifying is narrower than most people assume.
- Tax PlanningThe 2026 Year-End Tax Checklist: What Has to Happen by December 31
Some tax moves expire on December 31. Others wait until the filing deadline. Here is how to sort them, with the 2026 limits and a worked example.
- Tax PlanningWhen You Need a CPA, and When You Honestly Don't
Half of this page points away from hiring me: the line is about whether your return contains decisions, not about what you earn.
- Tax PlanningYour Tax Bracket Is Not Your Tax Rate
A single filer with $120,000 of wages in 2025 sits in the 24% bracket and pays 14.9% of that income in federal tax, and both of those numbers are correct.
- Tax PlanningA Big Refund Is Not a Win
What the refund number actually measures, how withholding works now that allowances are gone, and how to change yours without walking into an underpayment penalty.
- Tax PlanningHow to Switch Accountants Without It Being Awkward
Your old preparer's cooperation is helpful, not required, and nothing about the calendar says this has to wait until January.
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