Tax planning
By the time a return is filed, almost every number on it is locked. The savings live in the years still ahead: what to convert, what to draw from, what to give, and when.
Book a 15 to 30 minute call
Tax preparation reports the year that already happened; by filing time, almost every number is fixed. Tax planning works on the years still in front of you: how much income to recognize and when, which accounts to draw from, and when to convert or give. I help with the planning and can coordinate with the CPA who files.
If you have a CPA you like, keep them. Preparation and planning are different jobs that get along well: your CPA makes sure last year is reported correctly, while I focus on keeping the future taxes tied to your investments as low as possible, and on making them happen by choice rather than by surprise. When a move I recommend touches the return, I talk with your CPA directly so nothing gets lost in the handoff.
The goal shifts from cutting this year's bill to cutting the total you'll pay over your lifetime. Sometimes that means deliberately paying more tax in a low-income year, through a Roth conversion for example, to avoid a much larger bill later. A single-year win that raises your lifetime total isn't a win.
In practice it looks like smoothing: filling low-income years with income on purpose, through conversions or rebalancing gains, and pulling deductions into high-income years, through bunched charitable gifts or retirement plan contributions. The return your CPA files stays accurate either way. What changes is how much there is to report, and when.
Usually in years when your income dips: a sabbatical, a business loss year, and most often the stretch between retiring and the start of required minimum distributions at 73 or 75 under the SECURE 2.0 Act. In those years, moving money from a traditional IRA to a Roth fills low tax brackets on purpose. When the question is instead where a new dollar should go, the Roth vs. Traditional Calculator lays the trade-off out side by side.
Putting each investment in the account type where its tax treatment hurts least. Holdings that throw off yearly taxable income sit better inside retirement accounts, while tax-efficient funds sit comfortably in taxable accounts. A common misstep runs the opposite way: holding taxable bonds and REITs in a brokerage account while keeping only stocks in a traditional IRA. Bonds and REITs throw off interest and nonqualified dividends taxed every year at ordinary rates, so they usually belong inside the IRA where that income is sheltered. Stocks held in a taxable account, by contrast, earn the lower long-term capital gains rate and receive a step-up in basis at death, advantages a traditional IRA erases by turning every eventual withdrawal into ordinary income. Same investments, arranged so more of the return survives taxes. How much it's worth depends on your holdings and your bracket.
You need both, and they don't compete. The point is knowing which questions belong to which job.
| Tax preparation | Tax planning | |
|---|---|---|
| When it happens | Once a year, after the year has ended. | All year, aimed at the years still ahead. |
| The question it answers | What do you owe for last year? | What could you legally pay less of over your lifetime? |
| Typical moves | Accurate filing, catching every deduction and credit you already earned. | Timing income, sequencing withdrawals, converting in low-bracket years, giving in tax-smart ways. |
| Who does it | Your CPA or tax preparer. | Me, coordinating with your CPA so the plan and the return agree. |
| Often the bigger lever when | Your finances are simple: one employer, the standard deduction, few accounts. | You're a high earner, own a business, or are approaching retirement with several account types. |
Jesse Plunkett, CEPA®, CRPC®
Financial advisor in Sanford, FL, serving clients across the country virtually. Meet your advisor, or check my record on 
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A quick, useful starting point
1. Named beneficiaries override your will Beneficiary listings on investment accounts override your will entirely. Named an ex-spouse or a late parent? They still inherit, no matter what your will says…
A short, low-key call. We'll talk through where your income is headed and whether the next few years hold a window worth planning for.
Often, yes, because we do different jobs. Your CPA files an accurate return for the year that just ended, when almost nothing can be changed. I work on the years ahead, where withdrawal order, conversion timing, and charitable strategy are still open decisions. I'd rather work with your CPA than replace them, and the good ones welcome it.
No. I don't prepare or file returns, and I don't give formal tax advice the way a CPA or enrolled agent does. I build the tax strategy inside your financial plan, hand your preparer what they need, and flag the moves worth discussing. You keep your preparer; they gain a collaborator who sees your whole picture.
Moving money from a traditional IRA or 401(k), where you'll owe tax later, into a Roth account, where growth and qualified withdrawals are tax-free. You pay income tax on the amount you convert, this year, at today's rates. The bet is simple: pay tax now, in a year you choose, instead of later, in a year the rules choose.
Most often in lower-income years, when the tax on the converted amount is unusually cheap: the window between retiring and required minimum distributions, a year with a business loss, or early retirement before Social Security starts. They're less attractive in peak earning years, or when the conversion tax would have to come out of the IRA itself. Conversions can also raise Medicare premiums two years later, so we size them with that in mind.
It gets bigger, not smaller. Working years offer a handful of levers; retirement hands you dozens, because you decide how much income to create each year through withdrawals, conversions, and gains. Withdrawal order, the conversion window before required distributions begin at 73 or 75, charitable timing, and Medicare income thresholds all become live decisions. These are often the years when planning has the most to offer.
Almost always. Everything is handled virtually, so where you live is rarely a barrier. The only exception is a handful of states where I'm not registered yet, and if that's you, I'll tell you on our first call.