Things to Do Before Changes in the Tax Law

The new tax law will hit the Tri-state area particularly hard.  There are some last minute things you can do to mitigate the impact.

1. Prepay your 2018 real estate taxes on or before 12/31/2017.  If you pay your local taxes directly, either send them a check or go on to their website and e-pay. If your property taxes are paid by your bank, contact them to see if you can make a pre-payment DIRECTLY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT before year-end.
2. Prepay your January 15th 2018 estimated State income taxes on or before 12/31/2017. This only applies to self-employed people or those with businesses.  The new law expressly prohibits wage earners from doing this.
3. Give your favorite charity an extra boost in 2017.  While you can still deduct charitable deductions next year, it’ll be less of a deduction next year.
4. Prepay as many miscellaneous deductions as you can afford in 2017. They all go away in 2018:
   1. Any job related subscriptions, continuing education and traveling expenses.
   2. Tax preparation expenses, investment related expenses, and bank fees.
5. Postpone any alimony payments due in December 2017 to January 2018.  Starting in 2018 there will be no tax distinction between alimony payments (deductible to the payer, taxable to the payee) and child support payments.

Eyeball last year’s tax return to see if anything described here affects you.  As always, everyone’s tax situation is different so the onus is on the reader to determine whether this makes fiscal sense.