Year-end tax planning checklist for 2026

Year-end tax planning should be part of everyone’s financial routine. The checklist below serves as a starting point to think about items that are important to consider every year. 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.

Income tax

✓ Consider the timing of harvesting capital losses to offset capital gains

✓ Consider whether to accelerate or defer income and deductions

✓ Review your equity compensation holdings, and determine whether any action is required before year end

✓ Be mindful of possible Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) implications, especially if you itemize a lot of deductions or have exercised incentive stock options

✓ Review the use of your net operating losses

✓ If you own a business and are considering major equipment purchases, consider acquiring and placing those assets in service before year end to potentially take advantage of accelerated depreciation deductions

✓ Consider the impact of the Kiddie Tax

✓ 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)

Charitable giving

✓ Consider donating appreciated long-term capital assets to avoid capital gains tax

✓ 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 qualified charitable distribution or QCD). For 2026, the QCD amount is $111,000

Reminder: Starting in 2026, taxpayers who itemize deductions will only be able to deduct charitable gifts that exceed 0.5% of their AGI and the value of the deduction will be capped at the 35% rate for taxpayers in the highest tax bracket (37%). If you itemize your deductions and plan to make charitable gifts over multiple years, consider combining multi-year gifts into one year using a donor-advised fund.

Retirement planning

✓ Consider a Roth conversion for your IRA

✓ Plan for IRA and 401(k) distributions

✓ Maximize retirement plan contributions, including any available catch-up contributions

Reminder: Starting in 2026, for individuals age 50 or older with wages over $150,000, catch-up contributions can be made only to an employer-sponsored Roth account in after-tax dollars.

Lifetime gift planning​

✓  Review the use of annual exclusion gifts — the current annual exclusion amount per individual is $19,000​

✓  Review the use of the gift exclusion for payment of tuition and medical expense

✓  Consider taking advantage of current high transfer tax exemptions ($15 million in 2026) by making taxable gifts