Your 2023 Year-End Planning Checklist
It may be easy to forget that we’re nearing the end of the year. Even during the busy end-of-year rush, it’s a good time to reevaluate your 2023 finances and turn an eye toward 2024. What may be possible to improve and streamline your 2024 budget? Here are year-end planning steps that may make your 2024 finances run more smoothly.
Estimate Your 2023 Taxes
Here are the changing items of most interest to taxpayers for 2023 taxes.1
Standard Deduction: The standard deduction for married couples filing jointly is $27,700, $1,800 more than in 2022. For single and married individuals filing separately, it goes up to $13,850 for 2023, an increase of $900. For heads of households, it is $20,800, an increase of $1,400 from 2022.
Top Tax Rate: For 2023, the maximum rate remains 37% for individual single taxpayers with incomes above $578,125 ($693,750 for married couples filing jointly).
Marginal Tax Rates:
- 35% for incomes above $231,250 ($462,500 – married couples filing jointly)
- 32% for incomes above $182,100 ($364,200 – married couples filing jointly)
- 24% for incomes above $95,375 ($190,750 – married couples filing jointly)
- 22% for incomes above $44,725 ($89,450 – married couples filing jointly)
- 12% for incomes above $11,000 ($22,000 – married couples filing jointly)
- The lowest rate is 10% for single individuals with incomes of $11,000 or less ($22,000 – married couples filing jointly).
Earned Income Tax Credit: The maximum Earned Income Tax Credit amount is $7,430 for qualifying taxpayers who have three or more qualifying children, up from $6,935 in 2022.
It is important to quickly estimate your tax liability to figure out if your withholdings or estimated payments remain on track. You may still make estimated payments to your 2023 taxes through January 16, 2024. If you’ve been under-withholding or earned more income than expected, you still have several months to prepare for your April 2024 tax payment.
Evaluate Your Asset Allocation
Each investor has a model portfolio: the percentage of large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, and international stocks, as well as bonds and cash instruments they want their portfolio to contain. Every portfolio may shift over time as certain sectors gain value while others stagnate. If it’s been a while since you looked at your asset allocation, the year-end review may be a great time to review your investments to evaluate if they still represent your needs and goals.
Check Progress On Your Long-Term Goals
Whether your goals include saving for retirement, sending children to college, buying a new home, or stepping back from a stressful career into a lower-paying one, regular “goal checkups” to assess your progress are essential. By taking snapshots of your income, spending, investment balances, and net worth on a monthly or annual basis, you may get a better idea of how long it may take you to save up for certain goals or how much investment income you may be able to spare without tapping into your principal.
Your year-end review may also present a good time to set target goals for year-end 2024. Next year, you may have an even better point of reference to see how much progress you’ve made.
Footnotes
1 IRS provides tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2023
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2023
2 When Are Estimated Tax Payments Due in 2023?
https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/tax-deadline/602538/when-estimated-tax-payments-due
Important Disclosures
Content in this material is for educational and general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.
This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.
All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, LPL Financial makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy.
This article was prepared by WriterAccess.
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