Bison Wealth | Insights

2023 Year End Estate & Tax Planning Checklist

Oct 31, 2023

Year End Estate and Tax Planning Checklist 2023

  • Review your portfolio: 2023 has been a year of ups and downs. Review your account with your advisor to see if you can benefit from tax ‐loss harvesting to offset some of the capital gains from your assets that have performed well.

  • Review Income to see if there are good opportunities to accelerate income or convert some of your Traditional IRA to a ROTH: While contributing directly to a ROTH can be restricted by income levels, converting pre‐tax assets into a ROTH might be something to consider in a year with lower than usual income. You will pay taxes to do this, but you may be mitigating higher taxes in the future. Also, if you have a long time horizon, you will hopefully have more growth in the ROTH where the distributions can come out tax‐free.

  • Maximize contributions to retirement accounts: Money used to fund tax‐advantaged retirement accounts can directly impact your tax plan now and in the future.

  • Fund your Health Savings Account (HSA)* or Use your Flex Spending Account (FSA)*: The funding of your HSA and FSA helps to reduce your taxable income. The distributions will be tax free for qualified expenses. For the FSA, the funded monies are use it or lose it.

  • Review your Estate* Plan: The current federal estate and gift tax exemptions will be sunsetting in 2026. Without congress approving new legislation, levels will be reduced to the pre‐2017 level of $5 million adjusted for inflation. Planning should start soon as you have two complete years left to do some planning and take advantage of these higher levels. Are your accounts titled correctly and in line with your estate plan? Also review your chosen fiduciaries and agents to make sure they are still the correct choices.

  • Review your Beneficiaries: Are they current? Do they take into consideration any births, deaths, marriages, divorces, or other lifetime milestone events? Do this for all beneficiary designated accounts including Payment on Death, Transfer on Death, Insurance and other Risk Policies, and Retirement Accounts.

  • Complete Annual Gifting: The current annual exclusion gift is $17,000 from an individual ($34,000 for married couples) to anyone (there is no limit to the number of recipients). You can take advantage of this gifting strategy to fund 529 accounts as well. This is a wonderful way to reduce estate size and not pay any gift taxes. Gifts made directly to medical or educational institutions do not count towards the annual exclusion.

  • Make charitable gifts: The gift may be eligible for a deduction on your 2023 income tax return.

*Some services are not offered by Bison Wealth, LLC and are either outsourced, offered on a referral basis, or are product and services offered by third parties.

Disclosures
Important Information

Investment Advisory services are provided through Bison Wealth, LLC located at 3550 Lenox Road NE Suite 2550 Atlanta, GA 30361. Securities are offered through Metric Financial, LLC. located at 725 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE Atlanta, GA 30306, member FINRA and SIPC. Bison Wealth is not affiliated with Metric Financial, LLC., More information about the firm and its fees can be found in its Form ADV Part 2, which is available upon request by calling 404-841-2224. Bison Wealth is an independent investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Bison Wealth does not offer tax or legal advice. Bison Wealth, LLC. does not provide tax or legal advice. The opinions and views expressed here are for informational purposes only. Please consult with your tax and/or legal advisor for such guidance.

The statements contained herein are based upon the opinions of Bison Wealth, LLC (Bison) and the data available at the time of publication and are subject to change at any time without notice. This communication does not constitute investment advice and is for informational purposes only, is not intended to meet the objectives or suitability requirements of any specific individual or account, and does not provide a guarantee that the investment objective of any model will be met. An investor should assess his/ her own investment needs based on his/her own financial circumstances and investment objectives. Neither the information nor any opinions expressed herein should be construed as a solicitation or a recommendation by Bison or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities or investments or hire any specific manager. Bison prepared this update utilizing information from a variety of sources that it believes to be reliable. It is important to remember that there are risks inherent in any investment and that there is no assurance that any investment, asset class, style or index will provide positive performance over time. Diversification and strategic asset allocation do not guarantee a profit or protect against a loss in a declining markets. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. All investments are subject to risk, including the loss of principal.

Index definitions: “U.S. Large Cap” represented by the S&P 500 Index. “U.S. Small Cap” represented by the S&P 600 Index. “International” represented by the MSCI Europe, Australasia, Far East (EAFE) Net Return Index. “Emerging” represented by the MSCI Emerging Markets Net Return Index. “U.S. Aggregate” represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. “Treasuries” represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bond Index. “Short Term Bond” represented by the Bloomberg 1-5 year gov/credit Index. “U.S. High Yield” represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate High Yield Index. “Real Estate” represented by the Dow Jones REIT Index. “Gold” represented by the LBMA Gold Price Index. “Bitcoin” represented by the Bitcoin Galaxy Index
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