IRA Archives

10 Year-End Tax-Savings Tips for 2025 for Individual Filers

By Office Staff|2025-11-17T14:49:55-08:00November 17, 2025|Categories: Taxes|Tags: 2025 Tax Filing, Annual Gift Tax Exclusion, Donation, IRA, Retirement Contribution, Roth IRA, Tax Withholding, Wash Sale|0 Comments

The end of the tax year is fast approaching, which means there’s still time to execute some year-end tax-savings strategies, but not that much time. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) has extended and enhanced many taxpayer-friendly provisions, and you’d be wise to act now to take full advantage of them.

Here at SWC, we hate to see anyone pay more in taxes than they’re legally obligated to, which is why we offer year-end tax projection meetings for our clients from October through December. If you haven’t scheduled yours yet, use the Contact page on our website (click on the Appointments link to get started).

To demonstrate our commitment to helping as many people as possible minimize their tax burden and use the money they save to build long-term wealth, we present these 10 year-end tax-savings tips.

Tip No. 1: Review Your Tax Withholdings and Estimated Tax Payments

To avoid having to pay an underpayment penalty, take a look at how much income tax you already handed over to the government for the 2025 tax year in the form of withholdings from your paychecks and any estimated tax payments you’ve made.

To avoid an underpayment penalty on your federal income tax, your withholding and/or estimated tax payments must be at least one of the following:

90 percent of this year’s total tax liability
100 percent of last tax total tax liability
110 percent of last year’s tax liability if your current year’s adjusted gross income (AGI) is more than $150,000 ($75,000 if you’re married filing as single).

If you had unexpected income or capital gains during the year, we here at SWC can help you project your 2025 tax liability and take steps to avoid underpayment penalties. To schedule a consultation, reach us by visiting the Contact page of our website.

Tip No. 2: Consider Bunching Itemized Deductions

Each year, you can deduct the greater of your itemized deductions (mortgage interest, charitable contributions, medical expenses, and state and local taxes) or the standard deduction. The 2025 standard deduction is: Continue reading… Continue reading… Continue reading…

Making Sense of Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan Options

By Office Staff|2021-06-22T16:05:40-07:00June 22, 2021|Categories: Business Advice|Tags: 401(k), Defined Benefit Plans, Employer Sponsored Retirement Plan, IRA, Profit Sharing, Roth IRA, SIMPLE IRA, Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)|0 Comments

Establishing a retirement plan for employees can pay off in big ways, and we’re not just talking about the benefits for employees. Small business owners stand to benefit as well.

Small business benefits include:

Retirement plans improve recruitment and retention of better employees. This is especially important now that COVID restrictions are being lifted, and employers are struggling to entice their best employees back into the office.
Employer contributions are tax-deductible.
Assets in the plan grow tax-free.
Plan options are flexible.
Tax credits and other tax relief can help offset costs.

Employee benefits include:

Employee contributions can reduce their taxable income, lowering their taxes.
Contributions and profits grow tax-free until they’re withdrawn.
Contributions can be automated through payroll deductions, making it easier to save for retirement.
Through compounding interest (earning interest on savings and interest), contributions grow faster over time.
Retirement accounts can be carried from one employer to another.
Some employees may be eligible for the saver’s credit — a federal income tax credit on top of the tax deduction already allowed for contributions to a retirement account.
Some plans let employees defer a portion of their compensation into the plan, which can help employees save money on taxes.
Employees have peace of mind knowing that they’re improving their financial security for their future and retirement.

Choosing the Right Retirement Plan to Offer Your Employees

After deciding to offer a plan, you face the challenge of choosing which plan delivers the most bang for the buck — for both you (the business owner) and your employees. Several options are available, which is great, but without knowing the differences, picking a plan can be so overwhelming that you put off the decision indefinitely.

With that in mind, in this post, we describe the most common retirement plan options — from simplest to most complex — and present the key characteristics of each. As a small business owner, you’ll want to adopt a plan that’s tailored specifically to Continue reading… Continue reading… Continue reading…

Leveraging the Tax Savings Power of Retirement Accounts, Part 5: Small Business Guide to Reducing Your Tax Burden Legally

By Office Staff|2020-10-08T20:50:40-07:00August 20, 2020|Categories: Small Business Guide to Legally Reducing Your Tax Burden|Tags: Defined Benefit Plans, IRA, Retirement Accounts, Roth IRA, Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE), SIMPLE IRA, Simplified Employee Pension (SEP), Tax-deferred Retirement Accounts|0 Comments

Some of the most powerful tools for cutting taxes are tax-deferred retirement accounts, which enable you to invest money tax-free now, then pay taxes on it when you withdraw it in your retirement years. As a small-business owner, you can take advantage of several different types of tax-deferred retirement accounts, including individual retirement accounts (IRA), a simplified employee pension (SEP), a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA, 401(k), Defined Benefit Plans, and even the option of a hybrid plan. Roth IRAs and permanent life insurance plans are two more tools that can benefit you when planning for retirement.

Many people have one or more retirement accounts, which is great, but few have a retirement plan — a highly specific approach for using retirement accounts to maximize their tax savings and achieve their retirement goals. Without a properly crafted retirement plan in place, mistakes are more likely, such as choosing an account type with a contribution limit that’s too low, exposing yourself to high taxes when you retire, or paying too much in account/plan management fees.

For example, depending on your income and the type of retirement account, your contribution limit varies considerably. If you earn $90,000, for example, you can contribute $16,200 to a SIMPLE IRA, or $22,500 to a simplified employee pension (SEP), or $42,000 to a 401(k). (Note: That’s before any catch-up contributions you can start making at the age of Continue reading… Continue reading… Continue reading…