Meeting tax obligations is crucial, but strategies exist to reduce your tax liability, extending the lifespan of retirement savings.
Whether allocating for personal expenses, assisting descendants, or supporting charities, understanding tax-saving techniques is advantageous for retirees.
Approaching year-end, now is an opportune time for last-minute tax maneuvers. Below are five tactical approaches to save on taxes, preserving more funds for the upcoming tax season in April.
Strategic Tax-Saving Tips for Retirees
Harvesting Tax Gains
In retirement, a favorable 0% tax bracket for capital gains is available under specific conditions. Couples with a combined taxable income below $89,250 (or individuals below $44,625) will not incur taxes on capital gains in 2023.
For those expecting to stay below this income threshold, strategically selling specific investments to realize gains can be beneficial.
This approach results in a permanent increase in the cost basis of these investments without additional tax implications, effectively reducing future tax liabilities.
Importantly, it’s noteworthy that the wash sale rule does not apply to tax-gain harvesting.
Harvesting Tax Losses
If your taxable brokerage account holds investments that underperformed in 2023, it may be prudent to consider selling some of those investments at a loss.
When you incur a capital loss, you have the opportunity to offset it against any capital gains realized during that year.
In the event your realized losses exceed gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 annually from your regular income, including income from retirement account withdrawals.
However, it is crucial to be mindful of the wash sale rule if you intend to repurchase the sold investments.
This rule stipulates a waiting period of more than 30 days from the sale of a security at a loss before reacquiring it. Failure to comply renders the sale as if it never occurred.
Qualified Charitable Distributions
A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) involves directly transferring funds from an IRA to a nonprofit organization, offering a highly effective tax-saving strategy for individuals aged at least 70 1/2.
Unlike withdrawing funds from an IRA and subsequently donating to a charity for a deduction, the QCD streamlines the process by bypassing the checking account intermediary.
This ensures that income from the retirement account is never received.
Consequently, this not only exempts the IRA distribution from taxes but also mitigates potential impacts on other taxes linked to a higher gross income, such as those affecting Social Security benefits.
Donating Appreciated Assets
For those inclined toward philanthropy, a beneficial donation method is contributing appreciated assets, such as stocks, directly to nonprofit organizations. Most nonprofits readily accept stock donations.
This approach offers dual tax benefits. Firstly, akin to a cash donation, it qualifies for a deduction corresponding to the asset’s value at the time of donation.
Beyond the deduction, this strategy allows the donor to avoid incurring capital gains taxes, providing exemption from taxes as if the assets were sold, and the resulting cash proceeds were donated.
Tactical Transitions to Roth Accounts
Some retirees may benefit from transferring savings from a traditional retirement account to a Roth account, despite incurring income taxes on the conversion.
Securing a low tax rate through a Roth conversion in your early to mid-60s can strategically help avoid higher taxes in later retirement, especially when dealing with Social Security taxes or elevated minimum distributions.
Notably, withdrawals from Roth IRAs do not contribute to taxable income, significantly impacting tax savings in retirement.
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