Tax Services & Strategies

Here’s a win-win: Direct some of the income from your required minimum distributions (RMDs) to charity. The charity wins by receiving your contribution, and so do you, because you’ve lowered your adjusted gross income. Here’s everything you need to know about using the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) to reduce your taxes by lowering your adjusted gross income (AGI). If you have tax-deferred retirement accounts, and you’re older than 72 (or if you were 70.5 before December 31, 2019, thanks to the SECURE Act), then you’re required to distribute (or withdraw) a certain amount of funds from your accounts each year. Read More

Thinking about making some charitable contributions before the year is up? Here are some things to consider from a financial planning and tax perspective. The end of the year is the most popular time for charitable giving: Nonprofit and charitable organizations receive on average more than 40% of their annual revenue during the holiday giving season. Not only are people in a spirit of generosity around this time of year, it’s also a great time to optimize your finances for tax purposes. Charitable contributions can typically provide you with a big tax benefit if you itemize your deductions and Read More

As you likely know, an HSA is your government-regulated health savings account, available to you if you have a high-deductible health plan. What you may not already know: Your HSA comes with some pretty major tax benefits and can be a powerful way to boost your retirement savings.  An HSA allows you to accumulate money on a pre-tax basis, and these funds can be invested and grow tax-deferred. If spent on qualified medical expenses, they can be withdrawn tax-free, too. The best of all worlds! Here’s how it works.  Tax Advantage #1: Pre-tax contributions When you use a payroll Read More