Well, at least it is for those that like to take care of taxes early. This year I’m going to be in sort of a pickle. You see, because of my layoff, I made much more last year than I was planning on. Couple that with uncertainty about whether my previous employer withheld enough money and the fact that I’m soon (Lord-willing) going to close on a house, there’s not a lot of money to play with, and when you’ve been doing what I’ve been doing with your IRA at the end of the year, you start to wonder if you should really hire an accountant.
As a general rule of thumb, I have a guiding philosophy when it comes to taxed. I pay them, but I don’t like to pay them. The less of I can pay of them the better—and there are many ways that Uncle Sam will encourage you to do other things with your money than give it to him.
Mainly, I’m going to try this year to take advantage of the fact that if you make contributions to qualified retirement accounts you can deduct that money off your taxes. The way I see it, it’s a win-win. I lessen the burden on my children to support me when I’m retired in exchange for keeping my money in my own control instead of giving it to the state.
What ways are you going to use to minimize your tax burden for 2008?
I Haven’t really started thinking about it yet, but I did a solar installation, so I don’t think Uncle Sam is going to get too rich off of me this year.
Posted by Ling | February 3, 2009, 9:30 amIs that for electric? Where I live it wouldn’t be that beneficial, but I’m sure it helps.
Posted by MInTheGap | February 3, 2009, 10:41 amI know it’s hard to think about paying out more money on top of taxes, but I can’t stress enough how much I value our accountant. He has only charged us at tax-time, but has given us good advice throughout the year.
I’m sorry to hear about your layoff and hope it’s only short lived.
Sure would love to install solar panels. Maybe they’re not anymore, but they were prohibitively expensive when we did our remodel.
Posted by Christine | February 9, 2009, 4:53 pm