Year-End Tax Moves for 2025
We’re down to the wire on 2025. Ten days left. Clock's running down. You need a hail mary.
If you’re thinking it’s too late to do anything meaningful for your taxes this year, think again.
Whether you’re crushing the growth in your practice, or just getting a cold-start up and running, here are five moves that can still make a real difference before December 31st.
1. Clean Up Your Books (Seriously)
I get it. Bookkeeping is about as exciting as watching paint dry. But stay with me here.
This isn’t about compliance or making your CPA happy, but actually knowing what’s happening in your practice.
When your books are current, you can see whether that new lane or equipment purchase makes sense. You’ll know if you’re on track with financial and tax projections. You can spot problems before they become expensive surprises. Your advisors can only give you as good advice as the data you have.
Clean books throughout the year mean better tax planning conversations. You’re not guessing at what your income will be. You actually know. Come April, you’ll be grateful you didn’t spend three days reconciling credit card statements from last February. Or paying your tax pro to do so.
Whether you're doing your own books or paying someone else - having clean, accurately, timely books are huge step toward making good financial decisions.
2. Harvest Those Investment Losses (or Gains)
If you’ve got a taxable brokerage account, December is prime time for tax-loss harvesting.
Sell investments that are down to lock in the losses, then immediately buying something else. Those losses offset capital gains you’ve realized elsewhere. Plus, you can use up to $3,000 against your ordinary income ($1,500 if married filing separately), and anything extra rolls forward to next year.
This is also your chance to get rid of investments you don’t actually want to own anymore. Rebalance while saving on taxes. Just be careful to watch out for the wash sale rule.
If you’re in a low-income year (maybe you just cold-started or bought a practice), you might be in the 0% capital gains bracket.
In that case, you could actually harvest gains instead. Sell appreciated investments, pay little or nothing in tax, and reset your cost basis higher. It’s not common for established practice owners, but in the right situation? It’s magic.
3. Make Your Charitable Giving Work Harder
Planning to donate before year-end anyway? Let’s make sure you’re getting the most out of it.
First, charitable donations are only useful from a tax standpoint if you’re itemizing deductions, which means your total "itemized" deductions need to beat the standard deduction ($31,500 married filing jointly, $15,750 single).
Due to that, it may make sense to "bunch" donations into every other year or so, rather than smaller amounts each year.
If you have a taxable investment account, this is where the real magic can happen.
Instead of writing a check, donate appreciated stock or shares of ETFs and mutual funds from your brokerage account. You remove the potential capital gains from your account, benefit from the deduction (within certain AGI limits), and you can just reinvest the cash you would’ve donated. The nonprofit can sell the shares and not worry about the tax.
It's also a great way to get rid of appreciated investments you'd rather not own without triggering capital gains tax.
Even better? Use a Donor Advised Fund. Think of it as your own charitable checking account. You get the tax deduction this year, but the money sits in the DAF (invested and growing) until you’re ready to send it to specific charities. Maybe that’s next month, maybe that’s in five years. Your call. Meanwhile, you’ve already gotten the 2025 tax benefit.
Timing matters a lot here. Cash donations are pretty straightforward. But if you’re transferring stock or other assets, check the deadlines. Some charities and DAF providers need a few business days to process everything before year-end. Don’t leave it until December 30th.
Note: there are a few changes in 2026. There’s a new 0.5% AGI floor on charitable deductions when itemizing. You’ll need to donate more than 0.5% of your income to get any benefit. It's possible accelerating donations into 2025 might make sense, depending on how your professionals have projected the tax year to look.
Good news though: if you take the standard deduction in 2026 and beyond, you’ll get up to a $2,000 charitable deduction ($1,000 if single) for cash donations. Don't forget to start saving those receipts.
4. That Equipment You’re Buying? Make Sure It’s “In Service”
Planning to buy equipment before year-end to grab the depreciation deduction? Here’s the critical detail: you need to have purchased and placed it in service.
That means if you order that new OCT on December 28th but it doesn’t get installed until January 3rd, it may not count for 2025. Talk to your tax pro about the timing requirements before you pull the trigger.
Also, please...don’t buy just for the tax write-off. You’re still paying 100% of the cost (maybe with interest) to save maybe 30 to 40% in taxes. That’s not a deal. But if there’s a legitimate business need and you were planning to buy anyway? Then run the numbers with your advisors to figure out whether this year or next makes more sense.
In the same vein, there are opportunities for real estate owners too. Bonus depreciation is back at 100% for properties purchased and placed in service after January 19, 2025.
If you’re investing in real estate (especially if you’re using the short-term rental strategy or your spouse qualifies as a real estate professional), this could be a nice planning lever for your 2025 taxes. Also keep in mind that cost segregation studies don't actually need to be done until the tax filing deadline for the entity owning your real estate.
But the rules are complex and the documentation requirements are strict. Keep in close contact with your tax pro with the few days remaining in the year.
5. Roth Conversions in Low-Income Years
Had an unusually low taxable income year? Maybe you’re in year one of a cold-start practice, or you just completed a purchase and you’re showing less income than usual. This might be your window for Roth conversions.
The concept: you’re moving money from traditional / pre-tax retirement accounts (where you’ll pay tax on withdrawals later) into Roth accounts (where it grows tax-free). You pay tax now, but you get to choose the year and control the rate. In a low-income year, that rate might be pretty attractive.
But watch out for hidden taxes.
Roth conversions increase your adjusted gross income, which can mess with other things. If you’re getting ACA premium tax credits, those could drop or disappear. If you’re on an income-driven student loan repayment plan, your payments could jump. The real “tax rate” on your conversion might be way higher than it looks at first glance.
For example, if you convert $5,000 in the 12% tax bracket, you might expect to pay $600 in tax. Not bad!
But if it also increases your healthcare premiums by $500 total, and increased your IDR payment by $500 for next year, that's effectively a 32% tax rate! Not ideal. ($1600 / $5000 = 32%)
Run the full analysis with your financial advisor and tax pro before converting anything.
Don’t Wait
You’ve got ten days. If any of this sounds relevant to your situation, it's a good time to chat with your professionals and see what makes sense for your unique situation. And realized it's often okay to not take drastic actions just for taxes in one year - keep in mind tax planning happens over your lifetime.
And if you’re reading this thinking “I really need to get ahead of this stuff next year instead of scrambling at the last minute”? Let’s talk in January about building a more proactive plan for 2026.
Happy holidays, and here’s to finishing 2025 strong.
This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be considered tax advice. Always consult with your tax professional before making decisions that affect your tax situation.
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