Advance Planning for a Smoother Tax Season

By Jack Cohen, Brooklyn Chapter President

As we near the end of the year, we start to gear up for tax season. New preparation software or updates may be necessary. For the first time, my firm bought the software in June.

As I tell my clients, tax season is year-round now. Even though no one likes to think about it, a substantial amount of money can be saved by ordering the necessary programs early. 

Now is the time we should prepare end-of-year tax projections for our clients. Careful planning may save a taxpayer thousands of dollars. Knowing whether to maximize expenses or minimize income is an important value to our clients, which may translate (hopefully) to higher revenue for us. It’s a good idea to review the client’s capital gains, and possibly set up a pension plan that reviews the timing of the payments for major assets and expenses, and the timing for receiving income—for example, when to receive an annual bonus. 

The Brooklyn Chapter is proud to offer our seventh annual all-day Internal Revenue Service tax seminar next month. It will be held at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University on Jan. 9. Breakfast starts at 8 a.m. and check-in will start at 8:30 a.m. Here are some of the planned topics:

Be well rested, as you know what comes after Jan. 1.

Jack Cohen can be reached at 718-449-6600 or jackcohencpa@aol.com.