A critical, yet often overlooked, area of financial planning is tax planning. While the financial planning industry is starting to catch-up, Bartley Financial has made tax planning a core focus since inception. We really nerd out on tax stuff! We integrate tax planning into everything we do with a goal toward keeping your lifetime tax liability as low as possible.
What is Tax Planning?
We review your tax return to find ways to reduce your tax liability and to identify planning opportunities. This is different from tax preparation, which is done by your CPA or services like TurboTax, where the focus is ensuring that you file your taxes on time and that you comply with annual requirements.
Why Tax Planning Matters
Tax planning is important because it helps save you money by reducing your current AND future tax liabilities. Tax planning can also provide peace of mind by helping you anticipate and plan for future tax obligations. We can help you understand the tax implications of various financial decisions and present alternatives when applicable.
How Tax Planning Helps You
Individuals:
Tax planning can help us identify the most tax-efficient retirement vehicles for you and help you maximize retirement savings through workplace retirement plans (like 401(k)s) and various types of IRAs. We can help you make the most of tax-advantaged medical savings accounts like Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). We can help you minimize the tax rate on the sale of investments. We can help you take full advantage of tax credits for education / home improvements / etc. We can identify deductions you are entitled to. We can even help you to group deductions if your itemized deductions are not high enough to hurdle the standard deduction on an annual basis.
Business Owners:
Tax planning can help with the timing of income and expenses to reduce your overall tax liability, as well as help you identify deductible business expenses. We can help you take advantage of “above the line” deductions. These include deductions for self-employment taxes, health insurance premiums, contributions to SEP IRAs or Solo 401(k) plans, and expenses related to maintaining a home office. These deductions not only reduce your overall tax liability, they also lower your adjusted gross income which can potentially qualify you for other tax benefits.
Retirees:
Tax planning can be especially beneficial for early retirees during the transition from employment to full retirement. We can evaluate whether you will benefit from accelerating income during a period of lower tax rates, realizing capital gains at the 0% Federal tax, or completing Roth conversions (converting traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs to benefit from future tax-free withdrawals). We can help you identify which accounts to draw down during retirement, make sure you satisfy required minimum distribution rules and calculate the right amount of tax to withhold. Retirees can also maximize deductions for things like medical expenses and use tax-free income sources such as Roth IRAs and municipal bonds. Additionally, we can assist with keeping Medicare premiums as low as possible by managing income.
Real Life Example
We recently helped a client reduce their 2024 Medicare premiums by over $3,000. This proactive tax planning allowed the client to claim a refund of the Medicare premiums overpaid so far this year, and to reduce their Medicare premiums for the remainder of the year.
What Do We Need from You?
We will ask for a pdf of your most recent tax return and a pay stub/estimate of self-employment income if you are employed. That’s it. Once we have your key documents, we will take it from there.
Need Help?
Bartley Financial is built around a client-first ethos. We are as committed to exhibiting high levels of professionalism as we are to building relationships with clients built on trust and mutual respect. That’s why we hold ourselves to a fiduciary standard. It’s also why we offer a transparent, fee-only compensation structure so that our clients never need to be concerned about a conflict of interest.
Bartley Financial has an experienced team of CPAs and CFPs® (Certified Financial Planners®) dedicated to helping clients manage their investment portfolios, plan for retirement, strategize taxes, or execute any other initiatives in pursuit of optimum financial health and minimal financial stress. From our offices in Andover, MA, and Bedford, NH, we work to ease clients’ financial concerns, strengthen their portfolios, and assuage their worry that they don’t know what they don’t know.
Contact us today to begin a relationship with a team of knowledgeable, trustworthy professionals who put their clients first.
By Phillip Kashin
Phillip Kashin is a dedicated Paraplanner, bringing genuine enthusiasm to the team at Bartley Financial. As a Candidate for CFP® Certification, Phillip is committed to continually enhancing his skills and knowledge to serve our clients better.
