Year-end tax planning should be a part of everyone’s financial routine. The checklist below serves as a starting point to think about planning in today’s economic and legislative environment, as well as items that are important to consider every year. As always, we encourage you to speak with your CIBC Private Wealth advisor and outside tax advisors to help ensure that you are taking full advantage of all year-end tax savings opportunities.

View as PDF

Income tax

• Consider the timing of harvesting capital losses to offset capital gains
• Consider whether to accelerate or defer income and deductions
• Be mindful of possible Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) implications, especially if you itemize a lot of deductions or have exercised incentive stock options
• Consider the impact of the Kiddie Tax
• Review the use of your net operating losses
• If you are a trustee, consider whether it is appropriate under the terms of the trust agreement to make distributions to current beneficiaries (who may be in a lower tax bracket than the trust)

Lifetime gift planning

• Determine whether to make significant lifetime transfers
  • Consider taking advantage of current high transfer tax exemptions ($12.92 million in 2023) and potentially lower asset values
  • Evaluate whether flexible planning strategies meet your personal and family needs
• Review the use of annual exclusion gifts — the current annual exclusion amount per individual is $17,000
• Review the use of the gift exclusion for payment of tuition and medical expenses

Charitable giving

• Consider combining multi-year gifts into one year using a donor-advised fund for a potentially larger tax deduction
• Consider donating appreciated capital gain assets that have been held for more than a year
• Consider making cash gifts to eligible charities to take advantage of charitable deductions of up to 60% of adjusted gross income (AGI)
• Consider making a tax-free contribution directly from an IRA to a charitable organization (a QCD)

Retirement planning

• Consider a Roth conversion for your IRA
• Plan for IRA and 401(k) distributions
• Maximize retirement plan contributions

Theresa Marx is a senior wealth strategist for CIBC Private Wealth Management in Chicago, with over 20 years of industry experience. In this role, she is responsible for developing integrated wealth management solutions and providing comprehensive estate and financial planning services to high-net-worth clients.