If you’re a retired individual, it’s important to make sure your hard-earned savings last.

That’s why it helps to invest in tax management services when planning your retirement. With such services, you could save valuable money on taxes while ensuring that all of the financial details of retirement are taken care of appropriately and effectively.

But how can one find the right tax management service? If you’re asking yourself this question, we have the answers for you! In this blog post, we will discuss what aspects are included in reliable tax management service options for retirees – so keep reading to learn everything there is to know about finding a solution for your retirement planning needs!

Tax planning, Tax preparation, and tax management.

First let’s understand the differences between tax planning, tax preparation and tax management. 

All are important for understanding your tax liability and helping you reduce the taxes you owe over the long term. Utilizing each aspect to manage your taxes can help you stay organized and help you avoid any unexpected surprises when it comes time to pay taxes.

• Tax Planning – Tax planning is taking proactive steps to minimize your tax liability by legally and ethically reducing the amount of taxes you owe. Retirees should review how their income, such as pensions and Social Security benefits, will come together regarding taxes owed. Additionally, identifying deductions that apply to retirees needs to be evaluated as well—this can include credits related to retirement accounts, deductions on long-term care insurance costs, or even excluding parts of Social Security benefits from being taxed.
• Tax Preparation – Tax preparing involves the actual preparation of your tax return, which involves gathering all relevant financial information and inputting it into the appropriate tax forms. Tax preparation can be done by an individual, but many people choose to hire a tax professional or use tax preparation software to ensure that their tax returns are accurate and complete.
• Tax Management – Tax management involves ongoing efforts to manage your tax obligations throughout the year, rather than just during tax season. Tax management can include monitoring tax law changes, and reviewing and adjusting tax strategies as life goes on. Effective tax management can help you avoid surprises come tax season and help you keep more of your savings.

In summary, tax planning involves reducing your tax liability, tax preparation involves filling out your tax return accurately and completely, and tax management involves ongoing efforts to monitor and manage your tax obligations throughout the year.

Ask the tax management service about their experience with retirement plans and taxes.

When looking for help planning for retirement, it is important to ask your tax management service about their experience with retirement plans and taxes.

Taking advantage of the many protection, deduction, and deferment opportunities that come with retirement plans can be complex and a certain knowledge. Your tax management provider should have a deep understanding of all of the available options, as well as how they integrate with other areas, such as investments and insurance coverage.

Additionally, they should be experienced in setting up, monitoring, and adjusting your tax plan to ensure you make the most of all deductions you qualify for.

By asking your tax management team about their experience in this area, you can confidently start planning toward a secure retirement.

Our Tax Management Journey®

Our Tax Management Journey® is a simplified approach to guiding our clients through seven critical checkpoints to help strategize and manage their taxes in retirement. Within each checkpoint, there are tools and strategies to help our clients better understand how our Tax Management Journey® will help them increase their odds of financial success and potentially pay less taxes in retirement. 

1. Understanding the Order of Money: There is an order to how you should accumulate money and how you should take income distributions in retirement.
2. Measuring Your Tax Bracket: The U.S. tax system is a dynamic system, and there are opportunities for proactive tax management within the brackets.
3. Avoiding Marginal Tax Traps: We share options to explain the importance of proactive tax management before our clients take major income withdrawals from their retirement accounts or file for Social Security benefits.
4. Allocating Tax-Sensitive Assets: It’s not about what you make. It’s about what you keep. We can help guide you on the best allocation strategy based on your unique situation.
5. Gifting Strategies: We use tools to help clients maximize both charitable and intra-family gifting. This helps minimize out clients’ income taxes and their families’ future inherited tax burdens.
6. Pay Now vs. Pay Later: Though everyone is required to pay taxes, there’s flexibility on when you need to pay your taxes. We can help guide you on what’s best for your unique situation.
7. Managing Your Dynamic Bracket: Tax management is a perpetually moving target. Each year your personal circumstances may change and it’s important to adjust your plan accordingly.

In Conclusion

Retirees who are paying taxes for the long-term need all the help they can get to navigate tax law and compliance to help keep more of their hard-earned savings.

Tax management services offer valuable assistance by helping retirees manage their liabilities and striving to reduce the amount of taxes they’ll pay in retirement. They use a combination of analysis, planning, compliance reporting, and education to help ensure that retirees can enjoy a stress-free retirement.

When choosing a tax management service, make sure to ask about their experience with retirement plans and taxes. Also, be sure to understand what is included in the tax management service. At Intelliplan Financial we have knowledge and experience with retirement plans and taxes. Our  professionals will work with you to help ensure your taxes are managed correctly today and in the future. Contact Intelliplan Financial today to get started and learn how you could benefit from our Tax Management Journey®.

Disclosure: Financial Planning and Advisory Services are offered through Prosperity Capital Advisors (“PCA”), an SEC registered investment adviser.  Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Intelliplan Financial and PCA are separate, non-affiliated entities. PCA does not provide tax or legal advice. Insurance services offered through Intelliplan Financial are not affiliated with PCA.