There Are 83 Days Left in 2026: Here's What That Means for Your Taxes

October feels like the middle of the year. The kids are back in school, the weather is finally turning in Charleston, and the holidays feel far enough away that there's no urgency yet.

But from a tax perspective, October is late. Very late.

December 31st is a hard deadline. It doesn't move and most of the things that can meaningfully reduce what you owe in taxes for 2026 have to happen before that date not in April when you're filing, but now, while there's still time to act.

Here's what that looks like in real life.

Meet the Garcias (a fictional client with a real scenario)

Mike and Sarah are a dual-income household in Mount Pleasant. Mike is an engineer, Sarah is a nurse practitioner. Together they earn about $280,000. They have two kids, a mortgage, and a 401(k) each that they've been contributing to but not maximizing.

Every year, they hand their documents to a tax preparer in February and find out what they owe. Some years it's a refund. Some years it's a bill. It's always a surprise. And they always wonder, afterward, if there was something they could have done.

The answer is almost always yes. But by February, it's too late to do most of it, so the preparer gives them a vague answer with little actionable steps that are hard to implement.

What can actually be done before December 31st

Maximize retirement contributions. The 2026 401(k) contribution limit is $24,500. If Mike and Sarah are each contributing less than that and have the cash flow to increase, every additional dollar they contribute reduces their taxable income dollar for dollar. That's real money, at their combined bracket, an extra $10,000 in contributions could reduce their federal tax bill by $2,200 or more.

Roth conversion analysis. If you have money in a traditional IRA or an old 401(k) and you expect to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement than you are today, converting some of that to a Roth now (paying taxes at today's rate to avoid taxes at a higher future rate) can be a significant long-term win. The window to do this for 2026 closes December 31st.

Tax-loss harvesting. If you have taxable investment accounts and some positions that are down, selling them before year-end can generate losses that offset gains elsewhere in the portfolio. The investment can often be repurchased after 31 days without running afoul of wash-sale rules. This is one of the most underused strategies in financial planning.

HSA contributions. If you have a high-deductible health plan and a Health Savings Account, you have until April 15th to make 2026 contributions but contributing now gives you more time to invest those funds. The 2026 limit for a family is $8,750. Every dollar is triple tax-advantaged: deductible going in, tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses.

Bunching charitable contributions. If you give to charity but don't consistently itemize deductions, consider bunching two or three years of giving into one year using a Donor Advised Fund. You get the full deduction in the year you contribute, and you can recommend grants to your chosen charities over time. In 2026, OBBBA allows up to $2,000 of charitable contributions to be claimed in addition to your standard deduction.

The thing about waiting until February

Here's the hard truth: tax preparation and tax planning are not the same thing. A tax preparer's job is to accurately report what happened. A tax planner's job is to influence what happens before it does.

By the time you're sitting across from a tax preparer in February, the year is over. The income has been earned. The contributions either happened or they didn't. The conversions were done or they weren't. At that point, the preparer is just filling in boxes.

Tax planning happens now in October, November, December. It's a proactive process that requires knowing your projected income for the year, understanding your current bracket, and making strategic decisions about contributions, distributions, conversions, and deductions before the year closes.

What we do differently

As an Enrolled Agent and CFP®, tax strategy isn't something I refer out. It's built into every financial plan I create. When I work with a family like the Garcias, we're not waiting until February to find out what happened. We're having this conversation now, running projections, and making decisions that will show up on their return in a way they actually planned for.

If you'd like to have that conversation before the year ends, we're accepting new clients through November. After that, our capacity for year-end planning is limited.