Tax planning is a crucial aspect of financial planning that involves optimizing tax efficiency while minimizing tax liabilities. Successful tax planning results from strategic forecasting and proactive decision-making. Careful coordination among bookkeepers, tax preparers, and attorneys ensures accurate tax reporting and compliance with applicable tax laws and regulations. High net worth individuals, however, require a more sophisticated approach to ensure they have clarity on the tax impact of specific decisions and strategies, as many decisions have impact over multiple years or generations. Your trusted advisors can help to discern and introduce strategies that accomplish goals and more advantageous outcomes.

There are two basic types of taxation that are taken into account during tax planning: income taxes and estate and gift taxes. It is important to understand how these two types of taxes impact various decisions, and when an individual can mitigate or eliminate tax exposure.

Tax reporting consolidation involves consolidating financial information from various sources–such as limited partnerships, corporations, direct investments, investment accounts, qualified accounts and plans, bank statements, and income sources–into a single, comprehensive tax reporting system. This important step helps streamline the tax preparation process and ensures that all relevant information is accurately reported to tax preparers and on tax returns.

Business owners face an additional set of decisions that can impact their annual tax liabilities and how income will be reported in the future. These include entity selection, where assets are held, and types of income and expenses each entity realizes. These decisions are specific to an individual’s situation and the types of businesses they operate.

For business owners and executives, retirement plan design and usage are integral for tax planning. Retirement accounts offer valuable tax advantages that can help individuals build wealth, reduce tax liabilities, and save for retirement. Retirement plans include 401(k)s, IRAs, Simple IRAs, SEP-IRAs, and deferred compensation plans. Contributions to defined contribution plans are typically tax-deductible and reduce taxable income in the year of contribution. Additionally, earnings within these accounts grow tax-deferred until withdrawal, allowing investments to compound over time without the drag of annual taxes.