9 Ways to Start Tax Planning for Next Year

Today is Tax Day and if you’re like me, you may have just done your taxes and realized you owe money back (or perhaps your refund was less than you expected). While many people just accept their refunds or pay what they owe, be different. Start putting things in place now so you can lower your tax bill next year. In other words, don’t just focus on tax filing, focus on tax planning. Here are a few ideas below:

1. Max out pre-tax retirement accounts and Roth accounts

Let’s start by reducing your taxable income. One of the best ways to do that is to stuff money into pre-tax retirement accounts. This means using the 401K or 403b at your job or opening a solo401K if you are self-employed. Last year, you could stuff $20,500 into retirement accounts but this year (2023) the amount has increased to $22,500 per person. Along with using pre-tax retirement accounts to save money in taxes in the current year, you can also consider Roth accounts like a Roth IRA to save money in taxes in future years. For those like me who may not be able to contribute to a Roth IRA directly due to your income, contributing to a Roth IRA indirectly via the backdoor (by contributing to a traditional IRA and then converting that money to a Roth IRA) is another good option.

2. Stuff money into additional tax-advantaged accounts (457b)

Many physicians and governmental employees have additional pre-tax accounts open to them such as a 457b or deferred compensation plan. These plans are not retirement accounts, but they do allow you to contribute as much as $22,500 a year (in 2023) into them. The money you contribute is not taxed which can save you thousands of dollars in taxes the year you contribute to it. Just be sure to contact your human resources department to see if you have the plan and are eligible to use it. Also check out the 457b plan details and ensure your employer is stable.  

3. Consider the use of a Healthcare Savings Account or (healthcare) Flexible Spending Account

A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an investment account open to those who have a high-deductible health insurance plan. As of 2023, you can put up to $3850 if you are single or $7750 if you are married (or have family members on the account). The money you contribute is not taxed and you can then invest that money which will help it grow to an even larger amount over time. You can then remove the money out of this account tax-free if used for health expenses (in the current year or during any year in the future). For those who are not eligible for an HSA (because you have a different type of health insurance plan) you can usually use the healthcare flexible spending account. This is an account that allows you to put money away (pre-tax) that you plan to use on healthcare expenses throughout the year. Unlike an HAS, you cannot invest the money in the account and it must be used within a 12-to-15-month time frame, but if you know you will have healthcare expenses (from doctor visit copays, prescriptions, and procedures) using an FSA may be beneficial and save you money in taxes as well.

4. Use the Dependent Care FSA

If you are someone with children or other dependents like aging parents that you care for, consider using the dependent care FSA. This is an account you can stuff money into each year (tax free) that you can use to pay for dependent care expenses like daycare costs for your kids or nursing home costs for your parents. The max amount you can put into this account as of 2023 is $5000 for those who are married (or $2500 for those who are single or file their taxes separately). If you are a parent who is going to spend that money anyway, you might as well save a little bit in taxes to do so.

5. Take advantage of deductions like charitable giving and mortgage interest

If you are someone who has a home or likes to give to charity or churches each year, you may have other tax saving measures open to you. If the amount that you give each year and spend on mortgage interest (not the full mortgage payment but the amount that is used to pay interest) exceeds the standard tax deduction, then it may be in your best interest to itemize your taxes. When you itemize your taxes, you are able to take advantage of other deductions in the tax code (for charitable giving and mortgage interest payments) that could save you even more money in taxes. Ask your accountant to run the numbers and see if that makes sense for you.

6. Tax loss harvesting

If you are someone who invests a decent amount of money in taxable brokerage accounts (ie. If you invest money outside of retirement accounts) then you may be able to take advantage of other deductions. As we’ve seen over the past few years, the stock market does not always go up. Sometimes it goes down. When it goes down the value of some of your investments decreases. You may be able to sell some of those investments at a loss and then use that loss on your taxes to decrease the amount you owe. (You can then buy back a similar investment at a later date) Speak to your financial advisor to determine if you have enough money in brokerage accounts to tax loss harvest and whether or not it makes sense for you to sell some of those losses to offset your taxes.

7. Consider changing your business structure  

It’s 2023 and many more people have side businesses and hobbies that bring in extra income. Perhaps it is time for you to re-think your business structure because doing so may help you save money in taxes. Many people opt to make their business an LLC, but when it comes to taxes, you still have choices. You can choose for your business to be taxed as a sole proprietor (in which you will have to pay self-employment taxes) or….you can choose for your LLC business to be taxed as an S Corporation. Choosing to tax it as a sole proprietor requires less work but if you choose an S corporation then you may be able to save money in self-employment taxes which can amount to thousands of dollars per year. Speak to your business manager or tax professional to determine if you should reconsider your business structure and how it is taxed.

8. Get some 1099 income

If you aren’t someone who wants to start an entire business or hire a tax professional, perhaps you can still use some of your side income to your advantage. You don’t have to have an official LLC or a business corporation to take advantage of some of the benefits in the tax code. As long as you have some 1099 income you can start deducting expenses that are related to that income and you can even get an employment identification number to open up a solo401K (which is a retirement account for people with side income and businesses). Opening a solo401K will allow you to stuff even more money into retirement accounts. If you make a good deal of money, you can even open a “Megabackdoor Roth account” to stuff up to $66K into retirement accounts each year as of 2023.

9. Restructure compensation from your job

If you are someone who is employed and has no desire to start a business or get side income, there are some other things you can consider to lower your taxes. One idea is for you to think of other ways to get compensation from your job in ways that are taxed differently. For example, many doctors have money for Continuing Medical Education (CME) at their jobs which is fully reimbursable. Instead of increasing your salary, maybe you ask for more CME money and fewer restrictions on how it is used so you can get thousands of dollars each year tax free to spend on electronics and courses or conferences in exciting places? If your job has a retirement match, maybe you negotiate a higher retirement match instead of a bigger salary since the money your employer puts into retirement accounts is tax free?

Tell me, what changes do you plan to put in place this year to reduce your taxes? Have you tried any of the ideas above?

9 Reasons Doctors Aren't as Rich as You May Think

Many people think doctors are rich. While many physicians have high salaries, I can tell you firsthand that a lot of doctors are not as rich as everyone thinks. Here’s why:

1. Med School Debt. Like other young professionals, many doctors have student loans. But unlike undergrad, medical school is expensive. In fact, most med students take out at least $30,000, per semester of medical school. The average medical student loan debt is over $240,000 by the time we graduate and this balloons to over $300,000 by the time we finish training and account for the interest that has accrued. It’s a lot harder to become rich when you start off with a net worth of negative $200,000 or $300,000 after graduating from medical school.   

2. Prolonged Schooling. Doctors spend many years in school. Many of us start school at age 5 and don’t finish all the schooling and training needed to be a doctor until we are in our late 20s or 30s. Because of this prolonged schooling, doctors don’t start earning money until much later in life. While people in other professions have full time jobs with benefits and guaranteed salaries in their 20s, many doctors are living off of student loans. This means we can’t earn money, save money, or invest money in our twenties like many other people can. As a result, we have a delayed start to building our net worth.

3. Residency and Fellowship. After medical school we spend years in additional training working as residents physicians in which we are paid an average of $60,000 a year to work 60-80hours per week. In other words, we are full-time doctors, with full medical licenses getting paid a little more than minimum wage per hour. And this is mandatory. Every practicing physician must go through residency. The length of residency depends on the medical specialty, but it ranges from 3 to 7 years. Once residency ends, many physicians go through additional training called fellowship which means they spend another 1 to 3 years getting paid this lower rate.

4. Specialty Hierarchies. There are wide variations among physician salaries after residency. Pay can range from $120,000 a year to $600,000 a year and beyond. The amount of money a physician makes is heavily dependent on one’s primary medical specialty. Specialties that do more procedures (like surgery and radiology) tend to generate more RVUs (revenue value units) which results in higher insurance reimbursement rates than specialties that do fewer procedures like family medicine and pediatrics. Specialties like plastic surgery and dermatology that are more cash-based and offer cosmetic services tend to generate higher salaries as well.

5. Taxes. Once doctors finally finish training and start making higher salaries, they are often in the highest tax brackets. This means a large chunk of their earnings is deducted from their pay before it ever hits their bank account. Unlike many of the rich, who are able to shield a lot of their income from taxes by making real estate investments or business dedications, many doctors are employed as W-2 workers which is taxed at a higher rate. Along with higher tax rates, and fewer tax shields, doctors are often phased out of many of the subsidies that benefit the middle class and are ineligible for tax breaks and refunds enjoyed by the rest of the population.

6. Overspending from Delayed Gratification. After spending many years in school and training, doctors have a great deal of delayed gratification. Many of us want to buy a home, start a family, purchase a new car, take a nice vacation, and make other large purchases. After so much delay, it can be hard to resist the urge to do all of these things at once. Many physicians finance expenses, take out debt, and purchase things before they have all the money needed to do so. This exponentially increases the debt we already have and delays our ability to build wealth.

7. Mid-level Influx. Physicians cannot ignore the impact of mid-level providers. While nurse practitioners and physician assistants are valuable providers who can help increase access to care, they have been used by healthcare corporations as a cheaper alternative to care. Although physicians and mid-level providers are both immensely valuable, the influx of mid-levels has decreased the job options and lowered the pay range for some physicians. For example, instead of hiring two physicians to work in an urgent care, a company may instead hire one doctor and one mid-level provider.

8. Big City Saturation. Physician salaries vary widely in certain parts of the country, but not in the way one might think. In most jobs, people in larger cities get paid more to compensate for the higher cost of living. The opposite tends to be true in medicine. Because larger cities usually have more entertainment options and educational opportunities with large hospital systems that have more jobs for physicians in niche specialties, many doctors want to live in or near a major city. This creates physician oversaturation in these areas. Because the supply of doctors is so large in big cities, the demand for doctors in those areas decreases which results in lower salaries. As a result, doctors tend to get paid less when they move to larger cities. Along with taking a pay cut to live in a desirable area, many of these big cities often have a higher cost-of-living and tax rates which further decrease a physician’s take-home pay.

9. Lack of Financial Literacy. Despite our intelligence and skill when it comes to medicine, many physicians are never taught about money. Physicians spend years in school, often without ever having a salaried job, then go through residency where they are overworked and underpaid. They then finish training with a massive pay increase and zero guidance on what to do with their money. Many physicians spend too much too soon, and fail to save or invest enough of their income to build wealth over time. Unfortunately, many who doctors who seek professional help by hiring a financial advisor are often taken advantage of. Many are charged high prices for bad advice and are often tricked into purchasing inefficient financial products or investing money in subpar ways which further delays their journey to building wealth. 

Thus, doctors aren’t as rich you may think. Some of it is our own fault, some of it is a system failure that impacts us greatly.   

Tell me, what are some reasons you think doctors aren’t as rich as everyone thinks? Do you have any ideas on what we should do to overcome these hurdles?

4 Reasons I’m not a big fan of financial advisors

Every now and then I’ll get a spam email to my work account from some financial advisor offering an expensive dinner in exchange for an hour or two of my time. I usually ignore them. As a resident physician working 80+ hours a week, my time is valuable. Unlike a struggling college student, free food, even if it’s free good food, isn’t enough to get me to go somewhere or do something I know will waste my time. That being said, something unusual happened last week.

A business associate I met a few years ago reached out to me. He told me that he was starting a new personal finance company and asked if I would be interested in hiring him to manage my finances. I told him congrats on starting his new firm but made it clear that I didn’t plan on working with him or any other financial advisor any time soon. He seemed a bit taken aback and asked why. I stated that many financial advisors don’t have my best interest in mind. Here were my top 4 reasons why:

1. Many financial advisors sell subpar financial products to increase their own commissions

This is one of my biggest gripes with many financial advisors. They get paid a lot of money in commissions when they sell products like whole life insurance. Although life insurance gives us a way to provide for our families and loved ones after we die, term life insurance is sufficient. Whole life insurance, on the other hand, has poor investment returns, doesn’t pay out nearly as much as we may need, and is insanely expensive. Most of us can provide for our families by investing a certain amount of money each month in index mutual funds. We can also purchase a cheap term life insurance policy to cover us in case we die before we are able to make enough money in profits. Despite this fact, many financial advisors try to convince their clients to purchase whole life insurance instead.

They claim it’s a guaranteed death benefit that is better for the client but the real reason they sell that type of insurance is because they make tens of thousands of dollars in commission when they get their clients to purchase a whole life insurance policy. All the money in premiums you pay for the policy for the first 6months to a year goes directly into the financial advisor’s pockets. I don’t want to be affiliated with someone who is incentivized to make money by selling me something I don’t need.  

2. Many financial advisors encourage their clients to invest in actively managed funds or individual stocks which have higher fees and add unnecessary risk

Financial advisors who have their clients’ best interest in mind, should encourage their clients to invest in diversified low cost funds. The goal is have the client invest money in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes risks. One of the best ways to do this is to invest money in many different stocks in a variety of industries through index mutual funds. That way, if one company’s stock goes down, you have investments in many other companies that can cushion the blow.

The index funds are weighted so that a larger amount of your money is invested in the stocks that are larger and more likely to increase in value. This kind of investing helps minimize the risk that you could lose a large portion of your money and increase your chance of making a profit. Unfortunately, many financial advisors don’t advise their clients to invest money in this way. Instead of explaining to their clients why trying to “beat the market” via individual stocks or actively managed funds is a terrible idea they encourage their clients to invest their money in funds that charge high fees or take on too much risk.

3. Many financial advisors over-charge for advice

Some financial decisions aren’t as clear cut. While some parts of personal finance such as investing in mutual funds, saving money for retirement, and getting a 401K match from our employer are relatively easy decisions to make, others are not so clear. Should we focus on paying off debt or investing money for retirement? Should we purchase a house or keep renting? Should we do a pre-tax account or opt for a Roth? The answers to these questions vary depending on our individual circumstances and this is why some people seek out a financial advisor. There are other people who simply need help getting started and want to make sure that they have various accounts set up correctly. Whether which camp a person is in, we all want to get great advice at a good price.

Unfortunately, many financial advisors over-charge for advice. Instead of charging a flat fee, may financial advisors base their rate on the value of the investment you want them to manage and can charge 1-2% per year. A 1% fee per year may not sound like a lot initially, but given that average yearly returns (after inflation) are only about 4% per year, giving 1% of that to a financial advisor can really eat into your profits. If you have a portfolio valued at $500,000, paying $5,000 a year to keep doing the same thing you did last year is quite a bit of money. The truth is, unless you’re ultra-rich, it simply doesn’t take much more energy to manage $20,000 vs $200,000. Once you have a solid financial plan in place, you just have to follow it each year as your money grows. If you want some help managing your finances, find an advisor that won’t overcharge for advice. Paying a few hundred bucks an hour or a flat fee of a few thousand dollars to get started seems fair. If they are charging a lot more than that, think twice.

4. Many financial advisors fail to help their clients lower their biggest expense – taxes

If you ask people what their biggest expense is each year many of them will mention their mortgage, student loan payment, or childcare. Although these payments can be high, most people’s largest expense each year is actually taxes. Many people, especially those in the upper middle class pay 20-30% of their entire income in taxes. Finding ways to lower this expense can have a drastic impact on our income. While we will likely still pay a certain percentage in taxes each year, finding a way to lower them, by even a few thousand dollars, can make a big difference.

One of the best ways to do this is to invest in index funds thorough you work-sponsored retirement plans. Many of these plans give you a pre-tax deduction so maxing out this account can reduce your taxes by $4000-$5000 each year. Unfortunately, many financial advisors don’t emphasize this tax advantage. They instead convince their clients to set up brokerage accounts, with after-tax money which has higher fees and results in higher taxes. If I’m going to pay someone to manage my money, I’d at least like to make sure they are helping me invest in ways that will reduce my tax bill, not add to it.

8 Reasons Single Young Professionals Pay A Lot In Taxes (and what they should do about it)

It’s tax time and if you’re like most Americans you’re either hoping for a refund or praying you don’t owe Uncle Sam money you already spent. Unfortunately, many single young professionals are in the latter group, my brothers included.

After doing some research, asking other young professionals, and talking with my father (who is a government auditor) I began to learn several key reasons why my brothers’ tax rate, and yours too, may be much higher than the average. Here’s what I discovered….

1. They make a lot of money. This first reason is self-explanatory. In order to pay a high amount in taxes you usually have to be earning a high income. While everyone’s definition of “high income” may vary, it’s safe to say that if you are a single young professional making at least 6 figures per year (in any city except San Francisco, LA, DC, or NYC) then you are probably doing pretty well for yourself. Our tax code is progressive, which means that the more money you make the higher percentage you pay in taxes. While this may be a huge drag for many people in the higher tax brackets, the government provides services and protections we all benefit from and we can’t expect those struggling to provide for their basic needs to fund it. Much of the burden falls on the high earners.

2. They earn most, if not all, of their income from their employer. Earned income, such as the salaries we get from our jobs, is taxed at a much higher rate than passive income or investment income. So, if you get all of your money from your job and have not started generating other revenue streams from various investments or business ventures then you will be taxed at a higher percentage. Some young professionals make a good portion of their income from commissions due to sales or may earn end-of-the-year bonuses from their job. If these bonuses or commissions come in the form of a separate check, they are taxed at an even higher rate (22% in 2018). This means that nearly a fourth of the extra money they earned went directly to the government in taxes. Whether it’s all “earned income” from salary or a combination of salary, bonuses, and commissions, the issue is that the type of income they receive is taxed at a high rate.

3. They are single. It is no secret that married people have lower tax rates than single people. Just look at the tax brackets and you’ll see that a married couple making the same amount of money as a single person will pay much less in taxes each year. Why? Well because back in the day it wasn’t as common for both adults in a marriage to be employed. Typically, only the male worked and the wife stayed home to raise the kids. Thus, the government gave a tax break when people got married because it assumed that there was only 1 person working and didn’t want to overtax that one person who had to also use part of his (or her) earnings to financially support the non-working spouse. Nowadays, it is much more common that both people in a marriage work, but that tax benefit is still in place. Many young professionals are single and have waited longer to get married, thus they end up paying a higher portion in taxes. (Of note, this rule is reversed for couples that make over $600,000 a year, but for most folks, married couples pay less in taxes than single people.)

4. They do not have kids. The government wants people to procreate. Having kids that grow up to be productive members of society benefits the country as a whole and solidifies our viability as a nation. But kids cost money. Those little humans have so many needs and require a plethora of resources that can be quite expensive. The government understands this fact and has various tax breaks in place for people who have kids as a way of saying “here’s a small token of our appreciation for taking care of the little people.” Parents get a tax credit for raising kids, additional reimbursements for childcare costs, and other tax deductions for educational expenses. This does not make up for how much parents spend since kids are quite expensive, but it does help. Many single young professionals don’t have kids, so they are ineligible for these credits and tax breaks.

5. They do not have any dependents. Along with receiving a tax credit for having kids, there are also tax deductions for taking care of other people. Anyone who takes care of someone who can not, or does not, care for themselves (such as a child, disabled person, non-working relative, or elderly parent) can file his or her taxes as “head-of-household” instead of “single” which makes them eligible for larger tax deductions that save them even more money. Now I’m not suggesting that young professionals become fiscally responsible for other people, but I am pointing out the noticeable difference in tax savings that come from changing one’s tax filing status from single to Head-of-Household.

6. They do not own a home. Many young professionals prefer to live in major cities. They like being close to their jobs and having the convenience of apartment-style living (i.e. free maintenance repairs, in-house gyms, the freedom to move to another place after the lease ends, etc.). As a result, they pay rent. The only bad thing about paying rent and living in an apartment is that they are ineligible for one of the largest deductions in the tax code: the mortgage interest deduction. Many people who own a home have a monthly mortgage payment (since they didn’t pay the full cost for the home up front). While a portion of this mortgage payment is used to pay off the amount they borrowed from the bank, another portion of this monthly payment goes towards “interest” (the fee that the bank charges for loaning you money for the home). The government wants people to purchase homes and have reliable housing so there is an incentive in the tax code that allows homeowners to deduct the portion of their monthly mortgage payment that is “interest” from their taxes. When you first buy a home the “interest” portion of the mortgage payment is a fairly large percentage, so the mortgage interest deduction adds up to a large amount in tax savings. Thus, while many single young professionals are paying rent, some of their counterparts have purchased a home. Even though the monthly payment for the person who lives in a home may be the same or slightly higher than the cost of rent, the person who lives in the home is able to deduct a large portion of their monthly payment from their taxes and could be saving tens of thousands of dollars each year.

7. They are not putting much money into retirement accounts. Although some jobs may not offer a 401K, the majority of salaried jobs have a retirement account in place for their employees. The advantage of these accounts is that many of them are “tax-deferred.” This means that when you contribute to retirement plans like a 401K, you aren’t taxed on the money you put into the account until years later. As a result, the more money you put into your retirement account now, the lower your tax rate will be when you file your taxes each year. Despite these tax savings, many single young professionals don’t put as much money into their 401Ks as they can. To be fair, it is usually because they prefer to have more money available to them during each pay period. They might have other uses for that money, want to prioritize paying off their student loans, or may simply desire to live a more affluent lifestyle. While these are all understandable reasons, the fact that they are not contributing more to their 401Ks raises their tax rates.

8. They do not have enough money coming in from investments. The profit you make from investments (whether it is investing the stock market, real estate, or various businesses) is taxed at a much lower rate than earned income from your job. Sometimes it can even be shielded from taxes entirely. If single young professionals really want to lower how much they pay in taxes, they may need to invest the money they have in ways that can decrease their tax rates and add to their monthly incomes.

Despite all of these reasons for a high tax rate, my solution isn’t necessarily to get married, start having kids, or quickly buy a home or condo. While those are all viable things to do, I don’t advise that anyone rush into a decision like that. Making a decision in haste could have endless repercussions that could far outweigh the tax savings.

Instead, single young professionals should start actively investing more of their money. I am not suggesting that they randomly buy some stocks they saw on Bloomberg, or start investing in things they barely understand (like Bitcoin). Single young professionals should strongly consider starting a side business or begin investing in things like commodities or real estate. They will have to increase their knowledge on whichever route they choose so that they make educated investment decisions. Nevertheless, becoming an active investor or business owner will not only lower their tax rate, but it will also increase their monthly revenue and make them less dependent on the salaried jobs that keep taxing them at high rates.

To summarize, many single young professionals pay a lot of money in taxes. While each person’s situation may differ, there are usually 8 main reasons their tax rate is so high. They make a high income, they get most of their money from their jobs, and don’t actively invest a significant portion of their income. They also are single (and forgo the tax benefits of being married), many don’t have kids or dependents (which may save them money overall, but still make them ineligible for the plethora of tax incentives available to parents). Plus many of them prefer the perks of apartment style living (and are ineligible for deductions available to homeowners). Lastly, they do not contribute as much to their retirement accounts (which would further decrease their tax rates). Until these single young professionals decide to get married, procreate, and find a home, they should strongly consider investing more of their money. Profit earned from investments can not only add to their monthly incomes, but it can also substantially lower the amount they pay in taxes. A pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

Do you agree? What things do you think you could start doing to lower your tax rate?

10 Things To Remember Before You File Your Taxes

It’s tax time and most of us are getting ready to gather documents for one of our family members or a rep over at H&R block. Wait a second though. Instead of paying someone to file your taxes or merely hoping the person doing them doesn’t make any mistakes, why not try to learn a little about taxes (and how to reduce them) for yourself?

Learning how to do your own taxes probably isn’t number 1 on your bucket list, but face it.  No one is going to care as much about your money as you are.

The more you know, the more you can make sure you’re getting all the tax credits and deductions you can. Plus, learning about taxes helps you rethink how you can better structure your money next year to pay even less than you are paying right now.

As you think over the idea, here are a few things to remember to help you get through tax season this year:   

1. Many people will pay less money in taxes this year. With the new tax law, there are a few allowances that many people benefit from. First, the tax rates are lower for people in each income bracket. For example, last year the marginal tax rate for single people with an adjustable gross income of least $38,000 was 25%, this year it will be decreased to 22%. Last year, the marginal tax rate for married couples with an adjustable gross income of at least $165,000 was 28%, this year it will be reduced to 24%. Along with lower tax rates for everyone, the standard deduction was increased this year to $12,000 for singles and $24,000 for married people. This means that many people will be able to deduct even more money and pay much less in taxes this year. 

2. Consider filing taxes if you have student loans and are about to graduate. Although many full-time students don’t need to file taxes since they probably don’t have any income, there is an entirely different reason you may want to file taxes. Oftentimes, your student loan payments are based on how much money you made the previous year. In other words, they are “income-based.”

   If you can show an income of zero dollars this year when you file your taxes, when you graduate from your school in a few months and have to start paying back your student loans there is a very real possibility that your required payment will be zero dollars for the first year. How is this possible? The initial payment calculations are based on the income you made the last time you filed your taxes, so if you file taxes this year with an income of zero dollars then your student loan repayment for the first year may be zero. (This has happened for many graduating medical students who entered residency training programs as doctors so I strongly advise you to consult a student loan advisor and at least consider filing taxes. Many tax preparers will do it for you for free.)

3. If your refund is large, then you should consider adjusting the amount you have deducted from each check throughout the year. Although it can feel nice to get a large refund each April, it may not be the wisest thing. Most of the time when you get a huge refund from the government after filing your taxes it is because you paid the government too much in tax money throughout the year. In other words, you had too much deducted from your check each month and the government is now returning the excess amount. Basically, you let the government use and invest your money as it wanted to and then return it back to you a year later.

   Because the government has this excess amount of YOUR money, you weren’t able to use that money during the year as you would have liked. Because the government had your money you were not able to invest that money in stocks or real estate etc. which would have allowed you to earn a profit on that money as interest. So even though the large check feels good, why would you allow the government to have access to your money just for them the return it back to you in April interest-free? It may be better to stop giving them the excess in the first place. Talk to the person who does your taxes. Consider having less money deducted from your check each pay period and instead use that money to increase your monthly income or invest it to make a profit.

4. Tax credits and tax deductions are the key to helping you save money. Tax credits offset the amount you owe to the government in taxes “dollar-for-dollar.” Tax deductions reduce the amount you owe the government by a “percentage of each dollar.” Even though they are different, both tax credits and deductions are government incentives that lower your tax rate. They are the ultimate key to helping you save money in taxes so double check to make sure you have claimed all of the tax credits and deductions you are eligible for. Some examples of tax credits are: the family credit (for having kids), the education credit (to help offset the cost of college tuition), and investment tax credits (for business owners and investors who build low-income housing, do research, or develop innovative products and services). Examples of tax deductions are charitable contributions (money you give to charities, non-profit organizations and churches), health savings accounts, student loan interest, home mortgage interest, etc.  

5. Make sure you’ve contributed as much as you can tolerate into your IRA (if you have one). I went through the basics of an IRA in a previous post, but in case you missed it (or skipped it), I’ll do a brief overview here. An IRA is an Individual Retirement Account that allows you to save and invest money for retirement in a way that lowers your taxes. When you save for retirement you don’t just let money sit in a savings account. Instead, the money in the retirement account is usually invested in the stock market with the hope of it making even more money in profits. When people invest money on their own, they must pay “capital gains” taxes on the profit they make. However, when people invest money inside of retirement accounts like and IRA or 401K, they are taxed at a lower rate and often don’t have to pay taxes on this money until years later.

   Since IRAs and 401Ks allow you to save money in taxes and delay paying some of the tax money you owe, it is best to put as much money into these accounts as you can afford. The deadline to contribute to a 401K was December 31st (unless you filed for an extension), but you can still contribute into an IRA up until the tax filing deadline and use that contribution to lower the amount of money you owe in taxes this year. Of note, the IRA and 401K contribution limits will increase for 2019 so you may be able to save even more money through these accounts next year.  

6. Get proof of any charitable donations. It might seem a little weird to go calling your church about the tithe money you donated on Easter Sunday, but it can save you quite a bit of money on your taxes. The government likes when we give to those less fortunate or to charitable organizations so it gives us a tax deduction for doing so. When people file taxes, they can opt to reduce the amount they pay in taxes by taking a “standard deduction” (which is $12,000 for a single person or $24,000 for a married couple) or they can choose to “itemize” their deductions. As you start making more money and your income rises, the amount you pay in taxes may increase as well. One way to combat that it to itemize your deductions, especially if the total amount you “itemize” is higher than the default “standard deduction.”

   One of the things you can itemize is charitable contributions (including donations to nonprofits and churches). Most churches keep decent records and should already be mailing you a statement of your contributions over the past year, but if your church hasn’t sent you a copy of this record then you should definitely ask for it. In general, make sure you are keeping track of donations to churches, especially your tithes, in some sort of record-keeping book or app if you donate using cash. In order to deduct what you paid from your taxes, the government needs proof that you actually donated. It’s much harder to provide this proof if you pay with cash and/or if your church or organization doesn’t have the best accounting methods. Keep your own records, just in case.

7. Be sure to deduct any mortgage interest you might have paid on your home. When you take out a mortgage to purchase a home, the bank charges you a fee when they loan you the money. That fee is called “interest” and you will pay a small percentage of it each time you send in your monthly mortgage payment to the bank. Since this “interest” is not being used to pay back the loan and is money that the bank receives as profit, the government allows you to deduct most, if not all, of this interest from your yearly taxes. In fact, you can deduct up to $750,000.

   Now you obviously cannot deduct what you didn’t pay. So, if you only paid $10,000 in mortgage interest last year, then you can only deduct $10,000 from your taxable income. Nevertheless, the limit is pretty high which means that most of the interest you paid will be deductible and work to lower how much you owe in taxes. This is important because oftentimes when you first buy a home, the mortgage payment you send to the bank each month is mostly interest. Thus, you can deduct this huge amount in interest from your taxes.

   This is one of the main reasons young, single, professionals who are high-income earners are encouraged to purchase a home or a condo instead of renting. The argument is that they could be paying off a mortgage and deducting a huge amount of that monthly mortgage payment from their taxes which would save them thousands of dollars in taxes each year. Now there are lots of other costs and fees associated with buying a home that you have to keep in mind and I briefly mention them here. Long story short, I don’t advise anyone to simply rush into buying a home just for the tax benefits, but I am saying that it can be a huge tax savings, everything else being equal.

8. Get a statement of how much you’ve paid in student loans (particularly the interest). You may also be able to deduct the money you paid in student loan interest from your taxes. In fact, this deduction is similar to the mortgage interest rate deduction explained in above. When you pay back your student loans you are paying back the amount you originally borrowed (the principal) along with the fee the bank or the government charged you for borrowing the money in the first place (the interest). According to the tax law, you can deduct up to $2,500 of interest you paid towards your student loans from your taxable income (as long as you make less than $80,000 a year for a single person or $160,000 as a married person). 

9. Calculate your business expenses and be sure to deduct them when you file. If you are self-employed, contract out your services, own a business, or have just launched a new website, you are eligible for deductions that can help lower your tax rate. For example, if you work from home, you can deduct a portion of your rent, internet, and electric bills as “business expenses.” You can even deduct the cost of gas as you travel to and from clients and include any educational materials or resources you purchased when you first started. Although you also must pay taxes on any income you get, the bonus of getting to subtract out any business expenses or materials you purchased is a decent deal. Just be sure to keep good records and/or download an app on your phone that makes it easy for you to scan and save receipts & invoices from clients.

10. Real estate Investors can deduct even more money from their tax bill. If you are new to the world of real estate investing then you’ll be pleased to know that real estate investors can deduct a lot more money from their taxes than most other people. Notice I said real estate investors and not “homeowners.” If you simply own a home then you can usually only deduct the mortgage interest, BUT if you invest in real estate you can deduct a lot more than that. Real estate investors can deduct the cost of things like property taxes and insurance, repairs and maintenance (up to a certain point), transaction costs in the form of “amortization,” etc. Plus, with the new tax law, there are even more deductions. For example, real estate investors can now deduct even more depreciation sooner through new forms of cost segregation and may even be able to deduct a large percent of the purchase price (via the 20% income pass through deduction) if they meet certain qualifications. The nuances of tax deductions for real estate investors can get quite complicated and I won’t pretend to know them all. My point is that if you invest in real estate you are probably eligible for more deductions than you think, which would drastically lower the amount of taxes you owe. I’d strongly advise you to get a tax advisor that specializes in real estate.

To summarize:  You should consider learning a little bit about taxes. Even though you may not want to actually file your own taxes, learning some basics will help you figure out how to structure your life to save more money in taxes each year. Students graduating from undergraduate, masters or doctoral programs should consider filing their taxes this year so that their income-driven loan repayment is zero dollars for the first year. Everyone who files taxes should know that qualifying for more tax credits and tax deductions are the key to saving you more money.

If you are going to get a big refund in April, you are probably having too much money deducted from each of your paychecks. You should speak with a tax advisor about reducing it, so you can have more money on your check each pay period. Contributing more money to an IRA account will save you more money in taxes and you still have the chance to contribute to this account before you file your taxes this year. If you give to charity or pay tithes, get proof of how much you gave because it can lower how much tax money you owe.

If you bought a home or have paid money in student loans get a statement of how much money you paid in interest because you can subtract that interest money from the amount of taxes you owe. Anyone who owns a business can subtract “business expenses” even if the business just began and hasn’t started making money yet. Lastly, real estate investors are eligible for many deductions this year so they should be sure to consult with a tax advisor that specializes in that particular area and use the IRS website as a guide.

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