The deadline for filing 2022 tax returns is (for most people) just days away. But it’s not too late to make moves to help reduce your tax obligations.
Jeffrey Levine, chief planning officer of Buckingham Strategic Wealth, tells TheStreet’s Robert Powell that there' still plenty of time for most people to save on their 2022 taxes if they contribute to certain retirement accounts before April 18.
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In his “Ask the Hammer” video series for Retirement Daily, Levine answers a reader's question about last-minute moves to cut their tax bill.
Levine explains that it isn't too late for many people to save on their 2022 taxes if they contribute to certain retirement accounts before April 18. He goes on to explain other moves that business owners can make to cut their tax bill, and still other non-retirement account ways people can save on their taxes.
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Among Levine’s last-minute tax-saving strategies:
- If you are eligible to make a traditional IRA contribution and to have that contribution be deductible, most individuals would be able to do that up until April 18.
- If you are a business owner, you may be able to contribute to a plan for yourself through your business. That might be a SEP IRA contribution or a profit-sharing contribution.
- Levine says that while not a retirement account per se, Health Savings Account, or HSA, contributions can be made until the filing deadline as long as, in 2022, you were enrolled in a high-deductible, HSA-eligible health insurance plan.
Levine adds, “the only other thing you can do now to reduce your tax liability for last year is be organized. Being organized is underrated as a way to reduce your taxes — not because of what you did, but because of reporting what you did in the most accurate manner and getting all the deductions you should be entitled to.”
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In some parts of Georgia, Alabama and California, the winter storm damage this past year was so extensive that the IRS is giving residents until Oct. 16 to file their return. This includes counties like Alameda and Marin in California as well as Jasper and Meriwether in Georgia.
Regardless of whether one is affected by the disasters, all filers are able to extend their deadline on the IRS website, and you can also check the date of the extension for the county where you live on the IRS.gov website.
The one caveat is that those who file their return after April 18 for disaster-related reasons will need to mail it rather than submitting electronically.
