Though 2020 has been a 12 months of sudden modifications, one routine stays constant: the fourth quarter means it’s time to assist purchasers plan their funds for the brand new 12 months. With new tax and retirement concerns associated to the COVID-19 pandemic this 12 months, it’s not too early to get happening these planning conversations with purchasers—this fashion, they received’t discover themselves scrambling throughout the vacation season, and also you’ll have the chance to bolster the worth you ship.
The next year-end monetary planning guidelines highlights necessary factors to make use of as a information to assist make your discussions with purchasers as productive as attainable.
1) Max Out Retirement Contributions
Are your purchasers taking full benefit of their office retirement accounts? If not, encourage them to contemplate rising contributions to max out employer matches. Boosting contributions to an IRA might supply them tax benefits as nicely. Take into account that the SECURE Act repealed the utmost age for contributions to a standard IRA, efficient January 1, 2020. So long as people have earned earnings in 2020, they will contribute to a standard IRA after age 70½—and, relying on modified adjusted gross earnings (MAGI), they can deduct the contribution.
2) Refocus on Objectives
Did you’re employed along with your purchasers on financial savings objectives for 2020? Consider how they did and supply to assist them develop a plan—for setting practical targets for subsequent 12 months in addition to staying on observe to realize them.
3) Use Versatile Spending Account (FSA) {Dollars}
When you have purchasers with FSAs, you should definitely allow them to know the Inner Income Service relaxed sure “use-or-lose” guidelines this 12 months due to the pandemic. Employers can modify plans by way of the tip of this 12 months to permit staff to “spend down” unused FSA funds on any well being care expense incurred in 2020—and allow them to carry as a lot as $550 over to the 2021 plan 12 months. For purchasers who don’t have FSAs, supply to assist them calculate qualifying well being care prices to see if it is sensible to determine one for 2021.
4) Handle Marginal Tax Charges
Purchasers on the brink of a tax bracket could possibly put themselves within the decrease bracket by deferring some earnings to 2021. In case your purchasers itemize, talk about the potential of accelerating deductions resembling medical bills or charitable donations into 2020 (moderately than paying for deductible objects in 2021), which can have the identical impact.
Listed below are just a few key 2020 tax thresholds to remember:
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The 37 % marginal tax price impacts these with taxable incomes in extra of $518,400 (particular person), $622,050 (married submitting collectively), $518,400 (head of family), and $311,025 (married submitting individually).
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The 20 % capital good points tax price applies to these with taxable incomes in extra of $441,450 (particular person), $496,600 (married submitting collectively), $469,050 (head of family), and $248,300 (married submitting individually).
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The three.8 % surtax on funding earnings applies to the lesser of internet funding earnings or the surplus of MAGI larger than $200,000 (particular person), $250,000 (married submitting collectively), $200,000 (head of family), and $125,000 (married submitting individually).
5) Rebalance Portfolios
Reviewing capital good points and losses in your purchasers could reveal tax planning alternatives; for instance, they can harvest losses to offset capital good points. You may ask purchasers to make introductions to their CPAs so you may collaborate on totally different choices for them.
6) Discover Alternatives for Charitable Items
Donating to charity is one other good technique to scale back taxable earnings—and assist a worthy trigger. In your planning conversations with purchasers, ask in the event that they’re occupied with trying into varied gifting alternate options, together with donor-advised funds. In the event that they choose to make charitable contributions in 2020, they will deduct as much as $300 for charitable contributions even when they don’t itemize deductions. This “above-the-line” deduction is new for 2020 underneath the CARES Act. In case your shopper itemizes, the CARES Act additionally permits a deduction for all money contributions to public charities as much as one hundred pc of their adjusted gross earnings. What about purchasers older than 70½? Don’t neglect that neither the CARES Act nor the SECURE Act modified the certified charitable distribution (QCD) guidelines. Purchasers older than 70½ can nonetheless make a QCD of as much as $100,000 per individual on to a charity—and married taxpayers submitting collectively could exclude as much as $100,000 donated from every partner’s IRA.
7) Kind a Technique for Inventory Choices
Purchasers who maintain inventory choices could need assistance creating an method for managing present and future earnings. Contemplate the timing of a nonqualified inventory choice train primarily based on a shopper’s estimated tax image. Does it make sense to keep away from accelerating earnings into the present tax 12 months or to defer earnings to future years? For purchasers who’re contemplating exercising incentive inventory choices earlier than year-end, advocate they’ve their tax advisors put together various minimal tax projections to see whether or not there’s any tax profit to ready till January.
8) Plan for Estimated Taxes and Required Minimal Distributions (RMDs)
Each the SECURE and CARES acts have an effect on 2020 tax planning and RMDs, so purchasers may have some further concerns. Underneath the SECURE Act, people who attain age 70½ after January 1, 2020, can now wait till they flip 72 to start out taking RMDs—and the CARES Act waived RMDs for 2020. Underneath the CARES Act, purchasers who took coronavirus-related distributions (CRDs) from their retirement plans have 4 choices:
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Repay the CRD.
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Pay all the earnings tax associated to the CRD in 2020.
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Pay the tax legal responsibility over a three-year interval that features 2020, 2021, and 2022.
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Roll the funds again in over a three-year interval. (Repayments shall be coded as rollover contributions however received’t depend as a shopper’s one allowable 60-day rollover per 12-month interval.)
Purchasers might want to file IRS Kind 8915-E to report the CRD reimbursement or its inclusion in taxable earnings. The IRS expects Kind 8915-E to be obtainable by the tip of 2020. Keep in mind that purchasers who select to not repay the CRD might want to elect on their 2020 earnings tax returns how they plan to pay taxes related to the CRD. It’s necessary to level out, nevertheless, that after purchasers elect a technique, they will’t change it. Likewise, people who took a 401(ok) mortgage after March 27, 2020, might want to set up a reimbursement plan and ensure the quantity of accrued curiosity.
9) Alter Withholding
Purchasers who could also be topic to an estimated tax penalty can take into account asking employers (by way of Kind W-4) to extend their withholding for the rest of the 12 months to cowl shortfalls. The largest benefit of that is that withholding is taken into account to be paid evenly all year long as a substitute of when the {dollars} are literally taken out of your paycheck. This technique will also be used to make up for low or lacking quarterly estimated tax funds. When you have purchasers who collected unemployment in 2020, remind them that any advantages they obtained are topic to federal earnings tax. Taxes on the state stage differ, and never all states tax unemployment advantages. If people obtained unemployment advantages and didn’t have taxes withheld, they could have to plan for owing taxes after they file their 2020 returns.
10) Evaluation Property Paperwork
Now is an efficient time to evaluation and replace property plans for purchasers to ensure they align with objectives and account for any life modifications or different circumstances. Take time to:
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Examine belief funding
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Replace beneficiary designations
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Take a contemporary take a look at trustee and agent appointments
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Evaluation provisions of powers of legal professional and well being care directives
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Make sure that purchasers totally perceive all the paperwork
Be a Useful resource
Though this year-end monetary planning guidelines addresses many concerns, it’s actually a place to begin in your planning conversations with purchasers. Attain out proactively to let purchasers know you’re obtainable to assist them get a soar on planning now and discuss by way of the problems and deadlines most related to them. And keep in mind, if you happen to make this a collaborative course of with their CPAs, attorneys, and different consultants, you may assist make sure that your purchasers reap essentially the most advantages—and deepen your relationships alongside the way in which.
Commonwealth Monetary Community® doesn’t present authorized or tax recommendation.
