When tax time begins each year, do you find yourself anxious about what filing may look like for you? If this is the case, you should consider planning for the tax year to give yourself a peaceful mind come tax time. Working alongside an experienced and well-versed tax strategist can help make tax planning easy. It will also help ensure that you maximize your savings, relieving any anxiety you may have around filing your taxes for the coming year.

Importance of Planning

In life, many of the best moments have been planned for and well thought out before they occur. As Peter Drucker once said: “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes … but no plans.”

The importance of planning spills into your financial well-being as well. Tax savings and portfolio maximization do not just happen because we wish they would. And as much as we would like to file our taxes each year and achieve significant savings automatically, the reality is a lot of planning, hard work, and strategy goes into achieving tax savings during tax time.

Tax planning begins where you are inf the present and focuses on where you want to be in the future. Preparing your savings all year can give you and your business peace of mind come tax time.

Planning is for Both Business and Personal Goals

Taking the time to plan for your taxes can be critical for your business and personal goals. Maximizing your accounts, assets, and savings can positively impact gross margin and your long-term savings accounts. When you strategize with your tax strategist, think of your tax plan as beneficial to your entire life, not just your business.

Fortunately, there are many ways your tax savings strategy may spill over into your personal life. For example, you may hire your children to jumpstart their savings while using their earnings as a tax deduction. As much as we may try to keep business out of our personal life, planning for both can be a solid tax strategy to implement.

Tax Planning Has Multiple Focuses

There is more to focus on than just this year’s tax savings in your financial plan. Plan for the short-term, mid-term, and long-term for your personal and business financial goals. The kinds of financial planning you should focus on include:

  • Current year planning: Each year should have its own set of goals to accomplish, especially considering that tax laws and rules change regularly. Working consistently with a tax strategist can help ensure you maximize your tax savings year after year, regardless of potential new laws and regulations implemented during the time frame.
  • Retirement planning: Whether retirement is around the corner or many years down the road, building a solid retirement fund takes much planning and preparation. It is critical to find a plan that can help you live the lifestyle you want to live today and ensure you have enough funds to live similarly when the time comes to retire.
  • Succession planning: As much as you may not want it to, your staff and business needs will evolve and change over the years. Developing future leaders for all levels of business can help make future transitions easier for you and others. You may not be able to predict a key employee leaving, but you can start to plan potential successions now to set your team up for success.
  • Estate planning: It is never easy to think about where our lifelong savings, assets, and heirlooms will go when we pass, but it is a critical step to ensuring these end up in the right hands. Remember that your will and estate plan can always change, whether dynamics evolve or new members join your family.

All financial planning, whether short-term or long-term is not a one-and-done kind of plan. They are fluid and may ebb and flow with updates as your personal and financial life updates. It is important to remember this as you start and maintain your life’s financial plan.

How to Get a Head Start on Tax Planning

Whether you are new to tax planning or seeking out new financial professionals and tax strategists to partner with, TSP Family Office has the experience, professionalism, and solutions to help you keep more of what you earn. Check out our Tax Savings Calculator to jumpstart your potential tax savings.

Bottom line: Planning is a critical step to achieving any goal or dream you may have regarding your income, tax savings, or estate planning. If TSP Family Office can support your financial plans with tax planning or family office services, call us today!