Taxes are unavoidable, but careful tax planning can reduce your tax liability and provide benefits. Whether your goal is building your child’s college fund, saving for retirement or expanding a small business venture – there are various tax planning strategies that could help minimize your taxes.
Understanding your tax bracket, credits and deductions, itemizing or taking the standard deduction are all effective tax planning strategies that could save money on taxes. Read more to gain more insight.
1. Depreciation
Tax planning can help individuals legally lower their tax liabilities by increasing deductions, organizing documents and keeping records in order. Failure to plan ahead puts people in jeopardy of paying more taxes than necessary and deprives them of necessary funds for other essential expenses in life.
Depreciation can be an effective means of lowering one’s tax liability. By conducting an asset cost segregation study and classifying assets accordingly, significant tax savings may be realized.
Successfully using these strategies requires knowledge of tax regulations and laws, along with careful planning and record-keeping. For this reason, many individuals choose to consult a qualified tax and financial professional in order to maximize all deductions and credits that are available to them.
2. Business Interest Expenses
Utilizing tax-deductible investments can significantly lower your taxes. These include retirement plans such as traditional and SIMPLE IRAs, as well as certain individual accounts like brokerage and mutual fund brokerage accounts.
Based on your filing status, it may be advantageous to itemize deductions rather than taking the standard deduction. Furthermore, make use of your personal exemption and consider making contributions to a Roth IRA.
Since the Tax Cuts and Job Act (TCJA), business interest expenses can only be deducted up to 30% of adjusted taxable income (ATI). This could prove particularly unfavorable to manufacturers that utilize floor plan financing and debt to purchase vehicle inventory inventory. Any disallowed interest expenses won’t go unpunished – they simply carry forward to future years as additional deductions.
3. Home Office Expenses
If you run your business out of your house, a home office deduction could apply. This could include anything from a house to apartments to condominiums to mobile homes and boats that qualify. Even separate structures like sheds or detached garages could qualify.
To claim the home office deduction, you must set aside a portion of your house exclusively for business use on an ongoing basis. While an office doesn’t need to be physically separate from other areas in your house, regular usage must occur.
The IRS allows you to choose either the simplified method or standard method when calculating deductions. Both require keeping detailed records and calculations, with the latter yielding potentially larger deductions. It’s wise to experiment with both options until one brings you maximum benefits – that way you won’t miss any potential tax breaks!
4. Medical Expenses
The Internal Revenue Service allows taxpayers to deduct a specific amount, known as an itemized deduction, from their taxable income. Examples include costs related to unreimbursed medical care and prescription drugs as well as dental work that are uncompensated by insurance plans.
Items on a Schedule A form that qualify as tax deductions should be itemized, and used as such. While itemized deductions can help lower your adjusted gross income (AGI), they must first be evaluated to make sure you can actually utilize them.
One method of doing so is contributing money to a health savings account; your tax professional can assist in finding ways to save. Personal tax planning’s main aim is minimizing legal tax payments as much as possible, so staying up-to-date on federal and state legislation as well as speaking with an experienced tax expert for guidance is vital to achieve that goal.
5. Business Expenses
As an owner of a business, any purchase that adds value can be deducted from income and help lower your tax liability. Small expenses like office supplies or meals with employees as well as annual bank or credit card fees may qualify as tax deductible expenses.
Starting early to save receipts and create an organizational system to document potentially eligible expenses can make tax preparation at year end much simpler.
No matter whether filing as an individual or as a business, having a plan in place to minimize tax liabilities is crucial. By taking advantage of deductions available and strategically timing expenditures, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed come tax time.
