America's Wealth Management Show

Tax Planning Strategies to Consider During Tax Prep Season

By Chris Duderstadt

January 28, 2026

Tax Planning Strategies to Consider During Tax Prep Season

Key Points – Tax Planning Strategies to Consider During Tax Prep Season

  • Factoring in New Tax Law Changes 
  • Assessing Your Retirement Withdrawal Strategy 
  • The Tax Planning Strategies That Your Friend Recommends Might Not Work for You … and Vice Versa 
  • 9-Minute Read | 33-Minute Watch 

When Do You Usually File Your Tax Return? 

Do you tend to get uneasy about filing your taxes prior to the April 15 deadline, or do you typically file for an extension? If you find yourself in either situation, you’re far from being alone. In a recent poll we conducted on LinkedIn, 48% of respondents said the typically file their return in March, while 20% file between April 1-15 and 16% file for an extension. 

At Modern Wealth Management, our tax Advantage Offering doesn’t just focus on assisting clients with their annual tax returns. One of the biggest ways that we feel we can help clients is by identifying forward-looking tax planning strategies that may help with reducing tax liability over your lifetime. While it’s important to file and pay your taxes in a timely fashion (tax compliance), the tax planning process involves looking at what tax bracket you may be in several years down the road. 

If you have a financial advisor and a CPA/tax advisor, are they working in coordination with each other? If they aren’t, why not? Ahead of the 2025 tax filing season, Modern Wealth Managing Directors Martin James, CPA, PFS, and Dean Barber discussed the importance of working with a team of financial professionals and explained how Modern Wealth’s tax team assesses tax planning strategies for clients year-round — even in the midst of tax filing season. Let’s review some examples of tax planning strategies to consider. 

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Get a Copy of Our Tax Reduction Strategies Guide 

Before we dive into our list of tax planning strategies to consider during tax prep season, don’t forget to download our Tax Reduction Strategies guide, which also includes a tax preparation checklist. 

Tax Planning Strategies

Tax Reduction Strategies

Tax Planning Tips and Strategies 

1. Reassessing Your Roth Conversion Strategy

Heading into the 2024 tax filing season, there was a big deadline looming — the sunset of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax rates. Current tax rates were scheduled to sunset after December 31, 2025, and revert to the pre-TCJA rates of 2017. However, that all changed when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law on July 4, 2025, as the TCJA tax rates were “permanently” extended. 

Since the pre-TCJA tax rates were higher than the current tax rates, Roth conversions were a tax planning strategy that many people considered before December 31, 2025. And we’ll explain momentarily why they may very well still make sense depending on your situation. But first, let’s circle back to when the sunset date for the TCJA tax rates was still in effect. Our tax team was planning for the possibility of higher tax rates going into effect starting January 1, 2026. 

Roth vs. Traditional 

In effort to help clients with reducing their tax liability over the lifetime, we constantly assess their withdrawal strategy as they approach and head into retirement, as the timing of the withdrawals can be critical. For individuals who have a substantial amount of their retirement savings in traditional 401(k)s or IRAs, it’s important to understand that that money is tax-deferred and will be taxed upon withdrawal.  

With the TCJA tax rates at 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37% and pre-TCJA tax rates at 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35%, and 39.5%, there was an opportunity for individuals to pay tax at lower rates if the TCJA tax rates had sunset. It presented a potential opportunity to do Roth conversions at then-current tax rates and then being able to take the money out tax-free, under certain conditions. 

However, while the TCJA tax rates were “permanently” extended, that just means that there isn’t currently a sunset date in place. It’s still important to plan for the possibility of higher tax rates in the future. So, should you still consider Roth conversions as a tax planning strategy? That may help with creating tax diversification, but there are also potential unintended consequences of Roth conversions. Make sure to consult a tax professional when reviewing Roth conversion strategy.  

2. Backdoor and Mega Backdoor Roth Strategy 

If you want to contribute more money to Roth accounts but are a high-income earner that exceeds that income limits for Roth IRA contributions, what if we told you there might still be a way to do so? Have you heard of the backdoor and mega backdoor Roth? They aren’t Roth accounts, but rather strategies to get more money into Roth accounts. 

Let’s start with backdoor Roth. This strategy involves contributing money that has already been taxed into a traditional IRA as a non-deductible contribution. If you have previously funded an IRA via deductible contributions or rolling over pre-tax money, the money you already contributed could affect your tax situation. Following a non-deductible IRA contribution, the next step would be to roll the money over to a Roth IRA by way of a Roth conversion.  

Although there are annual income limits that apply for Roth IRA contributions, no income limits exist for after-tax non-deductible IRA contributions. Additionally, there aren’t any income limits for Roth conversions either. Just remember that you will be required to pay tax on the amount you want to convert.  

Mega backdoor Roth strategy, on the other hand, deals with after-tax 401(k) contributions that are instantly rolled over via an in-plan conversion into a Roth 401(k). It’s important to realize that an after-tax 401(k) contribution isn’t the same as a Roth 401(k) contribution or pre-tax contribution. If mega backdoor Roth strategy is something you want to consider, confirm with your 401(k) provider to see if after-tax contributions and in-plan Roth conversions are allowed. 

3. Making the Most of Your Health Savings Account

Speaking of tax planning strategies that involve tax-free withdrawals, let’s shift gears to HSAs. However, that’s just one component of the HSA triple tax advantage. When funding an HSA, keep in mind that the contributions are tax-deductible, the contributions grow tax-free, and then the withdrawals are also tax-free.  

If you have a high-deductible health care plan and didn’t fully fund your HSA during the 2025 tax year but had medical expenses, you still have the opportunity to do so until April 15. You can fund it via your payroll. Let’s say that someone has incurred medical expenses from last year and hasn’t fully funded their HSA, but doesn’t currently have money in your HSA to cover those expenses. In that situation, consider transferring funds into your HSA and then immediately reimburse yourself for those expenses. Those become tax-deductible expenses and can potentially be a substantial tax savings opportunity.  

4. Taking Advantage ofCatch-up and Super-Catch-up Contributions 

The deadline to contribute to your workplace retirement plan and IRAs for the 2025 tax year is also April 15, 2026. While the 2026 retirement account contribution limits were announced in November, those are for the 2026 tax year. Make sure you’re aware of the 2025 contribution limits if you still want to contribute for the 2025 tax year. 

For the 2025 tax year, individuals 49 and under are eligible to contribute up to $23,500 to their workplace retirement plan and $7,000 to IRAs and Roth IRAs. But if you’re 50 and older, you have the opportunity to exceed those thresholds by making catch-up contributions. The maximum catch-up contribution to workplace retirement plans for the 2025 tax year is $7,500, raising the contribution limit to $31,000. The catch-up contribution limit for IRAs and Roth IRAs for the 2025 tax year is $1,000. 

And if you turned 60, 61, 62, or 63 in 2025, you can exceed that $31,000 limit as well. Super catch-up contributions were introduced in 2025 as a provision of the SECURE Act 2.0. Instead of the $7,500 catch-up limit, individuals eligible for super catch-up contributions can contribute an additional $11,250 for the 2025 tax year (for a maximum contribution of $34,750). 

Contribution limits are indexed annually for inflation, so take some time to review the 2026 contribution limits as well. If you’re about to turn 50 or 60-63, start thinking now about catch-up and super-catch-up contributions can help you save for retirement.  

Before we move on to the next tax planning strategy on our list, there’s another SECURE Act 2.0 provision related to catch-up and super catch-up contributions that we want to touch on. Effective January 1, 2026, all catch-up and super catch-up contributions must be made to Roth accounts if your FICA wages were more than $150,000 in 2025.  

5. Don’t Forget About IRMAA 

While the tax planning strategies we’ve discussed involve forward-looking planning, this tax planning strategy requires you to look back in the past as well. IRMAA stands for Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount on Medicare premiums. There’s an annual base premium for Medicare Parts B and D, but they aren’t based on your Modified Adjusted Gross Income from the current or previous year. They’re based on your MAGI from two years prior.  

Let’s use Medicare Part B as an example.1 For 2026, the base premium is $202.90 for single filers who had MAGI of up to $109,000 in 2024 and $218,000 for joint filers. If your MAGI is just $1 above that threshold, your Medicare Part B premium goes up to $284.10 due to IRMAA. There are five tiers of IRMAA, so make sure that you’re aware of the IRMAA brackets if you’re 63 and older. Why 63 rather than 65 when many individuals become eligible for Medicare? That’s because of the two-year lookback that can catch people by surprise if they’re unaware.  

6. Charitable Giving Strategies 

Charitable giving tends to be more top of mind for people at the end of the year, especially during the holidays. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t start thinking about your charitable giving strategy during tax season.  

Qualified Charitable Distributions 

Earlier, we briefly mentioned that there are reasons why it may not make sense to do Roth conversions. One of those reasons is if an individual is charitably inclined and age 70½ or older. If that’s the case, that individual may want to consider keeping more money in their traditional IRAs so they can do Qualified Charitable Distributions. Through QCDs, individuals 70½ and older can donate up to $111,000 directly from their IRA to qualified charities in 2026 without it showing up on their tax return.2  

Reducing Required Minimum Distributions 

Age 70½ also used to be the age that IRA owners had to start taking Required Minimum Distributions from their IRAs prior to the SECURE Act. The Required Beginning Date is now April 1 of the year after turning age 73, and it is set to increase to 75 by 2033. It’s important to plan for RMDs before and after retirement and realize that QCDs may help with reducing RMDs. 

Donor-Advised Funds 

But what if you’re charitably inclined and haven’t reached age 70½ yet? If that’s the case, you may want to consider a flexible giving vehicle like Donor-Advised Funds. With DAFs, the donor contributes funds, immediately takes a tax deduction, and suggests grants to qualified charities over time. If you’re still a few years away from 70½, DAFs can be used to stack itemized deductions prior to becoming eligible to utilize QCDs.  

7. Projecting Your Income for 2026 and Beyond 

As you review the tax planning strategies we’ve shared so far, keep them in mind as you project your income for 2026 and beyond. Is your income in 2026 going to look like it did in 2025 or do you expect it to be different? Whether you’re expecting to see a spike in income this year or you’re between jobs and your income will be less in 2026, make sure you’re working with a tax professional that can help you plan accordingly. 

If you’re between jobs or you’re earlier in your career during lower-income years, tax-gain harvesting may be a tax planning strategy to help with lowering taxable income over your lifetime. Tax-gain harvesting involves selling appreciated assets when you’re in a lower tax bracket. If you’re married and filing joint and your income was lower than $96,700 ($48,350 for single filers) in 2025, the capital gains tax rate is 0%.  

Identifying Tax Planning Strategies with Our Team of Professionals 

Remember that if one of your friends says that a specific tax planning strategy works really well for them, you shouldn’t assume that it will be advantageous for you as well — and vice versa. Even if you and your best friend are the same age and have many of the same interests, everyone’s situation is going to be unique.  

Additionally, if one of your friends gets excited about receiving a substantial tax refund, they might want to look into creating a forward-looking tax plan as well. Getting a substantial tax refund essentially means they’ve given an interest-free loan to the government due to overpaying taxes over the course of the year. Using a proactive approach with these tax planning strategies may help with reducing tax liability over the course of someone’s lifetime, not just year by year. 

If you have questions about any of these tax planning strategies and how a forward-looking tax plan is a key component of a comprehensive financial plan, start a conversation with our team below.  

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In addition to our tax Advantage Offering, we also have Advantage Offerings in estate, investments, insurance, and financial planning. Our advisors are supported by specialists in each Advantage Offering to help deliver what we like to call the Modern Wealth Advantage. We look forward to the opportunity to deliver that to you this tax season. It’s our goal to help you enjoy today with confidence for tomorrow. 

Resources Mentioned in This Article

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Other Sources

[1] https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2026-medicare-parts-b-premiums-deductibles 

[2] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-25-67.pdf 

Investment advisory services offered through Modern Wealth Management, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. 

The views expressed represent the opinion of Modern Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor. Information provided is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. Modern Wealth Management does not accept any liability for the use of the information discussed. Consult with a qualified financial, legal, or tax professional prior to taking any action. Tax planning strategies discussed are based on current tax laws and interpretations, which are subject to change. Outcomes will vary based on individual circumstances and no specific tax result is guaranteed.