The whiff of nutmeg, sprinkled atop a freshly-brewed eggnog latte, can only mean one thing — year-end tax planning season is upon us, once again.
While it’s true that the list of year-end tax planning tips doesn’t vary much from year to year, for 2017, there a few unique planning opportunities that are worth considering to save you some tax when you file your return next spring.
TAX LOSS SELLING
It may seem odd to talk about tax loss selling in a year in which many investors’ non-registered portfolios are generally up, but you may still be holding on to that “sure thing” penny-stock your great uncle tipped you off about a few years back that’s just about to rebound. If your patience is running out, now may be a good time to consider dumping that stock, doing some tax-loss selling to offset some of the gains you may have realized when you sold off some winners in 2017.
Tax-loss selling involves selling investments with accrued losses, typically at year end, to offset capital gains realized elsewhere in your portfolio. Any net capital losses that cannot be used currently may either be carried back three years or carried forward indefinitely to offset net capital gains in other years.
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