End of Year Tax Checklist

The end of the year is always a blur for most people. NOT ME! I remember every year how people tell me "after the first." repeatedly like it's a magical date that everything will appear on their desk prepared to hand to me so I can work some magic. While I appreciate the vote of confidence in my skills, it's not the best idea to wait until after the first. Below is a checklist of things I took from AICPA CPA Insider blog that will help remind everyone what they can do BEFORE the first.

A sampling of specific issues to evaluate:

• Accounting method changes and elections, including bonus, Sec. 179, cost-segregation, and other depreciation elections and new repairs and maintenance regulations;

• Accelerate disposition of devalued operating and investment assets;

• Analyze tax basis in flowthrough entities to ensure that losses can be claimed;

• Evaluate passive and nonpassive characterizations as well as activity classification grouping elections, particularly in light of the new 3.8% net investment income tax under Sec. 1411;

• Evaluate AMT exposure and plan accordingly if AMT is unavoidable;

• Review qualified plan eligibility and limits and consider if any new plans need to be established or modified before year end;

• Review the Sec. 199 domestic production activity deduction;

• Review year-end sales transactions for deferral opportunities;

• Consider eligibility for the research and development credit;

• Review federal, state, and local assets and hiring tax incentives ranging from the federal work opportunity tax credit, state enterprise zone incentives, and other employee hiring credit programs; and

• Review state income sourcing rules for state tax minimization.