Tax planning means planning ahead. With that in mind, Grant Thornton LLP has put together these 10 year-end tax tips for 2016. Remember, tax laws do change, so check with a local Grant Thornton tax professional before making any tax decisions.

1. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
10 year end tax-planning tips
Presentation1
Year-end tax guide tips

2. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Accelerate deductions and
defer income.
Consider deferring bonuses, consulting
income or self-employment income. On
the deduction side, you may be able to
accelerate state and local income
taxes, interest payments and real
estate taxes.

3. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Bunch itemized deductions.
Many expenses can be deducted only
if they exceed a certain percentage of
your adjusted gross income (AGI).
Bunching itemized deductible
expenses into one year can help you
exceed these AGI floors.

4. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Make up a tax shortfall with
increased withholding.
If you’re in danger of an underpayment
penalty, try to make up the shortfall by
increasing withholding on your salary
or bonuses.

5. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Leverage retirement
account tax savings.
It’s not too late to increase
contributions to a retirement account.
Contributions reduce taxable income
at the time that you make them, and
you don’t pay taxes until you take the
money out at retirement.

6. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Reconsider a Roth IRA
rollover.
It has become very popular in recent
years to convert a traditional IRA into a
Roth IRA. This type of rollover allows
you to pay tax on the conversion in
exchange for no taxes in the future (if
withdrawals are made properly).

7. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Get your charitable house
in order.
A cash contribution must be
documented to be deductible.
If you claim a charitable deduction of
more than $500 in donated property,
you must attach Form 8283.
For cars, attach the charity's
acknowledgment with a description
of the car.

8. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Give directly from an IRA.
If you are 70.5 years old or older, using
your IRA distributions for charitable
giving could save you more than taking
a charitable deduction on a normal gift.
That’s because these IRA distributions
for charitable giving won’t be included
in income at all, lowering your AGI.

9. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Zero out AMT.
The top alternative minimum tax (AMT)
rate is only 28%; so you can “zero out”
the AMT by accelerating income into the
AMT year until the tax you calculate for
regular tax and the AMT are the same.

10. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Don’t squander your gift
tax exclusion.
You can give up to $14,000 to as many
people as you wish in 2016, free of gift
or estate tax. You get a new annual gift
tax exclusion every year, so don’t let it
go to waste.

11. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Leverage historically low
interest rates.
An appreciating market and historically
low rates create the perfect
atmosphere for estate planning.
The past several years presented a
historically favorable time, and the low
rates won’t last forever.

12. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
For additional tax planning tips for
compensation and benefits, privately
held businesses and private wealth
planning, visit Grant Thornton’s
Year-End Tax Guides 2016.
For Additional Tips

13. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
Tax professional standards statement
This content supports Grant Thornton LLP’s marketing of professional services and is not
written tax advice directed at the particular facts and circumstances of any person. If you are
interested in the topics presented herein, we encourage you to contact us or an independent
tax professional to discuss their potential application to your particular situation. Nothing
herein shall be construed as imposing a limitation on any person from disclosing the tax
treatment or tax structure of any matter addressed herein. To the extent this content may be
considered to contain written tax advice, any written advice contained in, forwarded with or
attached to this content is not intended by Grant Thornton LLP to be used, and cannot be
used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the
Internal Revenue Code.

14. © 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved
We want to hear from you!
Tell us what you think about this content.
Take this short survey.