The last month of the year means a lot of things — holidays, parties, bowl games and more. It’s also an opportunity to do year-end tax planning.
By now, you have a good idea of where you will end 2021 in terms of income earned and deductions available. Here are some general year-end tax tips as they apply on federal returns:
One key late-year decision is to analyze your expenses to see if you might be able to itemize. Otherwise, you would take the standard deduction, which has become much more widespread since tax reform in 2017, with about 90% of taxpayers going in this direction. Common itemized deductions include real estate taxes, mortgage interest, state income taxes, charitable donations and medical expenses.
