We understand how tax regulations might be confusing, but spending some effort to know and apply them for your benefit can influence how much you wind up paying (or receiving back) when you file. Here are our 3 crucial tax planning and tax strategy fundamentals to grasp before making your next financial move. First of all, where does it all start? Without a clear starting point, it might be challenging to plan for the future. Our first tip is discovering your federal tax bracket is the first piece of advice for tax preparation. The federal income tax system has seven different tax brackets: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. Regardless of your tax bracket, it's likely that you won't pay that rate on all of your income. Your taxable income can be calculated by deducting tax deductions, therefore it often differs from your wage or total income. Your taxable income is not simply divided by your tax bracket. Your taxable income is instead divided into portions by the government, which then levies taxes on each portion at the appropriate rates. Our next tip, which is also the nicest part of filing your taxes may be taking advantage of tax deductions and credits. Understanding the differences can help you develop some extremely powerful tax techniques that lower your tax liability. You can deduct some costs you've incurred from your taxable income by claiming tax deductions. They lessen the portion of your income that is liable to taxes. Making this option can have a significant impact on your tax bill, making it a crucial component of tax preparation. One of the main reasons why many taxpayers choose to take the standard deduction rather than itemizing is that it makes tax preparation simpler. The standard deduction's dollar value is established by Congress and is normally increased or decreased annually to account for inflation. The standard deduction you are entitled to depends on your filing status. This brings us to our final tip, we recommend you to itemize your tax return, which entails deducting each eligible individual tax deduction one at a time, rather than taking the standard deduction. One of the most important parts of the tax planning process is keeping track of your deductions throughout the year. The downside of itemizing is that it requires more time to do your taxes and you must be able to demonstrate that you are entitled to your deductions, even though you must keep track of and maintain your receipts. Yet, there are additional tax planning tactics that might help with tax planning. Even then, deductions and credits are an excellent way to lower your tax liability. Remember it is imperative to save all of your receipts, just in the event if you were ever audited you will be able to provide the necessary documents that will suffice a dispute in a claim. It does take the extra time, but it will always prove to be well worth it in the end. Thanks for reading! Always remember that if you need some assistance with keeping record or your business receipts, don't wait until the last minute you can always give us a call and schedule a meeting to see how we can best help you today! - Adocyo