Year-End Tax Planning Checklist for Tax Year 2026

Your 2026 Year-End Tax Checklist

Check Your Withholding and Estimated Taxes

Start here, because it shows whether you’re on track to owe. Withholding is the income tax your employer takes out of each paycheck. Compare the federal tax withheld on your latest pay stub with what you expect to owe for 2026.

If you have income without withholding, like freelance work, you may need to pay estimated taxes yourself. Under the estimated tax rules, payments are generally required if you expect to owe at least $1,000. To avoid an underpayment penalty, your withholding and estimated payments generally need to cover one of these:

• 90% of the tax on your 2026 return
• 100% of the tax on your 2025 return, or 110% if your adjusted gross income (AGI) was over $150,000

AGI is your total income minus certain adjustments, like some retirement contributions.

Max Out Your Retirement Accounts

If you expect to owe, retirement contributions are the next place to look. The IRS raised the 2026 contribution limits for most accounts.

At 50 or older, the 2026 limits release lets you add an $8,000 401(k) catch-up ($11,250 at ages 60–63) or a $1,100 IRA catch-up. The IRA deadline rules let you contribute up to your return due date, not including extensions. If you are planning on doing an IRA conversion, such as converting a Traditional IRA with basis to a Roth IRA, that must be done before the end of the year, which is a different deadline from your contributions. HSA limits come from Revenue Procedure 2025-19. Under the HSA rules, you need a high-deductible health plan, and the same due-date deadline applies.

Take Required Minimum Distributions

Later in life, your retirement accounts require withdrawals as well as allowing contributions. A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the amount you must withdraw each year from most retirement accounts, and the RMD rules start at age 73.

If you turn 73 in 2026, you can delay your first RMD until April 1, 2027. Later RMDs are due by Dec. 31 each year, so delaying means taking two RMDs in 2027.

Review Investments for Capital Losses

Selling investments that lost value can lower your tax bill. Under the capital loss rules, losses offset your capital gains first. If losses are larger, you can deduct up to $3,000 ($1,500 if married filing separately) against other income.

Plan Charitable Contributions

If you plan on making a charitable contribution, typically you will be itemizing your deductions, but if you take the standard deduction, a new 2026 deduction still rewards giving. The standard deduction is a flat amount based on filing status that you take instead of itemizing. The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for joint filers and $24,150 for heads of household. With the standard deduction, you can deduct up to $1,000 in cash gifts to eligible charities ($2,000 if filing jointly), though gifts to donor-advised funds don’t qualify. If your itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction, and you decide to itemize, you can deduct charitable cash contributions up to a percent of your AGI depending on the contribution, with qualified contributions able to be made up to 100 percent of your AGI.

For any gift of $250 or more, get a written acknowledgment from the charity.

Sources

• IRS, Estimated tax
• IRS, 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500
• IRS, Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
• IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-19
• IRS, Publication 969 (2025), Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans
• IRS, Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs
• IRS, Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses
• IRS, IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026, including amendments from the One, Big, Beautiful Bill
• IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts
• IRS, Charitable contributions: Written acknowledgments