I met Kay Bell a little over a year ago in Chicago. She’s kept Don’t Mess With Taxes as true to topic as any personal finance blogger I know: all taxes, all the time on her blog. (As you’d expect from a tax blog, no?)
Recently she’s come through with nine end-of-year tax games with a Christmas reindeer theme. Enjoy!
- Dasher says to dash to use up your FSA funds; if you don’t get a grace period to claim expenses, the money that you contributed is lost at year-end
- Dancer bows to say that doing a mock tax return to get a quick 10,000-foot view of your tax landscape.
- Prancer dances to the tune of selling appreciated assets by year-end to
- Vixen cleans house with reminders of estate gift tax limits for this year
- Comet rings his bell and tells everyone to get donations in by year-end for tax breaks this coming April
- Cupid reminds everyone of when their marital status affects their tax filing classification
- Donner gives a heads-up for you to harvest investment losses to offset taxable gains
- Blitzen says to consider converting to a Roth IRA as you decide whether to pay taxes now or later
- Rudolph recommends that you bunch your deductions — particularly medical and dental deductions and miscellaneous Schedule A deductions because they have a floor associated with them
Great tips. It’ s hard to make taxes fun, but I like the reindeer theme.
Good tips! Maybe my CPA should check this out.
hahahaha Even though I am a tax accountant, there is no way I’d ever do a mock return! Sounds like about as much fun as walking on a bed of nails. 😉
Season to taste, I guess. 🙂