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20 October 2015 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com FEATURE Check Withholdings Check your clients' withholdings to see if they need to make an adjust- ment. If they had a large tax bill last year and their situation is relatively t he s a me , re m i nd t he m to s t a r t h av i n g mor e t a k e n ou t of t he i r checks now if they never got around to it when you advised them to do it back in April. A nd if they had a large tax refund and their situation is the relatively the same, they may want to reduce the amount they're having withheld (i.e., don't give an "interest free loan" to the government!). Business Check-In If you have self-employed clients, do a check-in on their businesses. Get a rough idea of their current taxable net income, and then do a projection for the fnal months of the year to come up with an estimate of what t h e y m i g h t e n d u p o w i n g o r receiving as a refund. If it looks like they're going to owe you can start hav ing them make estimated pay- m e n t s n o w — o r i n c r e a s e t h e a mou nt s of t hei r est i mated pay- ments if they are currently making them. Recordkeeping Ta c t f u l l y i n q u i r e a b o u t t h e i r recordkeeping habits to make sure t he y a re k e epi ng t hei r re q u i re d documentation up-to-date. Remind your clients about the importance of keeping receipts for deductible child care and school expenses, and that cer tain school ex penses might be considered charitable donations. Charitable Donations W h i le you a re on t he s ubjec t of donations, it might be a good idea to adv ise your cl ients to ma ke t heir charitable contributions for the year now rather than wait until the holi- days when they might be stretched thin with regard to both time and money. Retirement Distribution Planning If you have clients who are retired, discuss their cash needs for the rest of the year. Remind them to take out on l y w h at t he y ne e d f rom t hei r non-Roth accounts to minimize the amount they will owe and to keep their tax bracket as low as possible. Don't forget to rev iew the R M Ds (required minimum distributions) that are necessary to avoid the 50% tax penalty they will incur if they fail to take the required amount out of any non-Roth accounts. Retirement Saving If your clients haven't been contrib- uting the ma x to their retirement pl a n s , r e v ie w t he i r i nc ome a nd expenses to see if they can increase the amounts they've been puting in. Retirement will happen to all of us, eventually, and giving your clients a lit le push to save now could help them quite a bit in the long run. If you do still have clients whose tax returns you haven't fled at this late date, it's time for some tough love. Don't wait until the eleventh hou r to f i nd out t hat you're st i l l missing a document or a vital piece of information that you absolutely need in order to fle a complete and cor rect ta x ret u r n for t hem. A nd ma ke su re t hey u nderst a nd t hat fa i lu re to f i le a t a x ret u r n cou ld resu lt i n losi ng t hei r hea lt h ca re insurance subsidies and tax credits for last year and this year. Tese last minute procrastinators are the clients who are likely to need your Fourth Quarter Tax Tune-up even more than your "good" clients do. So plan to meet with them soon — afer you get their 2014 returns fled, of course. It's Time for a 4th Quarter Income Tax Tuneup By Dave DuVal, EA W ith summer vacation over and school back in session, it's time to help those extreme tax pro- crastinators get their returns fled. But what about the rest of your clients — the "good" ones whose taxes you completed way back in April? Would it be helpful to check in with them, too, for a litle Fourth Quarter Tax Tune-Up? Here are a few ideas about what you might discuss. Dave Du Val is an Enrolled Agent and Vice President of Customer Advocacy, for TaxAudit.com . In his role, he ensures that the TaxAudit team is on the fore- font of tax education and research. He is a nationally-recognized speaker and educator who is well-known for his high energy and dynamic presentation style. Du Val is a fequent and popular guest speaker for the California Society of Tax Consultants, the California Society of Enrolled Agents and the National Associa- tion of Tax Professionals.