It’s Never Too Early to Plan - Especially After This Tax Season
I had high hopes for a smooth, and staple-free, tax season (see January blog post). Reality had other plans. A much-needed post-tax-season manicure solved the staple issue (note to self: stop using your fingernails to remove them), and I’m now working on a plan to address the “smooth” part.
What made this tax season feel rougher than expected? Compression.
The majority of clients submitted their tax documents within a 14-day window at the end of February and beginning of March. That kind of compression makes it harder to turn tax returns around quickly and leaves less time for questions, follow-up and planning opportunities.
I understand the instinct to wait until everything is ready, especially brokerage statements, which are often the last to arrive. But if you want to help ensure a smoother process (and faster turnaround), you can send everything else in early February and forward the remaining documents when they arrive. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
Don’t worry, I’ll remind you again next January.
But enough about tax season, what can you be doing now to plan for 2026?
Itemized Deductions
More clients itemized their deductions for 2025 due to the recent tax law change increasing the cap on state and local tax deductions (up to $40,000). Because this caught some by surprise, many hadn’t gathered information related to medical expenses, other taxes paid or charitable contributions.
If you itemized for 2025 and don’t expect a significant increase in income that could lower your cap back to $10,000, it’s worth starting to track these items now. This includes medical expenses, state and local taxes (income, real estate and personal property) and charitable contributions.
And a reminder: you must have an acknowledgement letter from a qualified charity for any contribution of $250 or more in order to claim the deduction.
Charitable Contributions in 2026
There are also some important changes to charitable deductions beginning in 2026 under the tax law passed in July 2025.
For taxpayers who itemize, only the portion of charitable contributions that exceeds 0.5% of their adjusted gross income (AGI) will be deductible. For example, if your AGI is $300,000 and you donate $3,000, you can only deduct $1,500 [$3,000 – ($300,000 x 0.5%)]. In other words, smaller levels of giving may no longer provide a tax benefit unless they exceed that AGI threshold.
For taxpayers taking the standard deduction, there is some good news. You may deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 for married filing jointly) in cash contributions to qualified charities. This is in addition to the 2026 standard deduction, which is $16,100 for single taxpayers and $32,200 for married filing jointly in 2026. However, this does not include donations made to donor advised funds (DAFs), private foundations or non-cash contributions.
Depending on whether you itemize, these changes could impact how and when you give in 2026.
A little planning now can make next April a lot easier. If you’d like to get ahead of it, including revisiting your estimated tax payments, please reach out. I’m happy to help.