The end of each year brings many tax planning opportunities for financial advisors and their clients, according to Jeff Levine, Kitces.com's lead financial planning nerd and also Buckingham Wealth Partners' chief planning officer.
As Levine noted this week during a wide-ranging webcast, some tax planning considerations apply each year — from taking the correct required minimum distributions to ensuring proper withholdings. But other considerations are more strategic in nature, having to do with shifting tax laws and emerging regulations.
“Given that Republicans have retaken control in Washington and are considered very likely to extend current tax policies set under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, this is actually a fairly tame year-end period for advisors and clients as such things go,” Levine observed. “Broadly speaking, the framework we have in place today is likely to continue for the long term.”
Regardless of one’s political disposition, advisors owe it to their clients to keep abreast of any policy changes that could affect their finances. That effort should be easier this year than in years past, Levine said, but there are still some potential areas for confusion.
See the accompanying slideshow for the highlights of Levine's presentation, during which he repeatedly urged financial advisors on the line to step up their tax planning game — or risk being left behind by their clients and the competition.
Pictured: Jeff Levine
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