Hi,
Most tax preparers look backwards. They prepare your return, report what already happened, and tell you what you owe.
What they often do not do is meet with you mid year to change the outcome before it is too late.
By November or December, many of the decisions that could have lowered your tax bill are already locked in. All that remains is reporting what happened. Right now is different: there is still time to make changes proactively.
There is a lot we can adjust in a single one-hour session – and the right move now could save you thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, down the line.
Here is where it usually starts:
- Withholding and quarterly estimates: Fix your W-4 or catch up on estimates now, so you are not paying a penalty and IRS interest on top of the balance due.
- Equity compensation: RSUs, ISOs, NSOs, ESPP. When you exercise, when you sell, and whether you trigger AMT are decisions that have to be made before December 31, not in April.
- Capital gains, losses, and crypto: Harvest losses, split a large sale across two tax years, and clean up cost basis while there is still something to change.
- Retirement accounts and Roth conversions: Fund the right accounts, use a backdoor or mega backdoor Roth if you qualify, and convert in a year when your income is temporarily low.
- Real estate: Rental depreciation, cost segregation on a qualifying property, short-term rental rules, and the exclusion on the sale of your primary residence.
- Forming an LLC: If you have side income, freelance or 1099 work, or a rental property, an LLC separates that activity from your personal assets and opens the door to an S corporation election once the income justifies it. Formed now, it works for the rest of this year. Formed in April, it does nothing for a year that is already closed.
- Charitable giving: Bunch two years into one, give appreciated stock instead of cash, or use a donor advised fund or a qualified charitable distribution – each one changes what you actually deduct.
- Moving abroad or to another state: Complete the planning before you move – not after you have already triggered an unexpected tax bill or a residency audit.
- A major financial year: An inheritance, a windfall, a liquidity event, a home sale, a large bonus, marriage, or divorce.
- The question that has been bothering you: What are you overpaying, and what should you change?
Tax preparation reports what happened. Tax planning changes what happens next.
Whatever your situation, an hour now is more valuable than a scramble later. The timing genuinely matters: you still have time to implement real strategies before year-end. Wait until tax season, and most of your options will already be gone.
Reply to this email by Friday, and we will get your hour on the calendar. Bring your most recent tax return so we can review your actual situation and give you real answers – no generalities.
Do you need additional tax strategies? Please reply back and we’ll send you our tax savings checklist.
Sincerely,
—
George Dimov, CPA
Licensed and Insured
(833) 829-1120 toll free
(212) 994-8081 Fax
www.dimovtax.com