Reviewing a tax return can be an informative exercise to ensure you understand all sources of income and tax liabilities for the prior year.
In this checklist, we focus on items to review if you are retired, including:
- The filing status. If you are married should you automatically file jointly with their spouse or might there be situations where the you might consider filing married-separate?
- If you are divorced or widowed, there are filing steps for to take depending upon timing and circumstances.
- If you had investment income for the prior year, there are reporting issues that you will want to be sure your have addressed in connection with this income.
- If you were covered by a qualified plan during the prior tax year there may be some reporting issues to consider, especially if you took any distributions from these plans. For those who are age 70 ½ or over, did you take the full amount of their required minimum distribution from your retirement plans? Did you do a rollover from a retirement to an IRA? Were any distributions taken from an after-tax IRA account?
- Did you have a high level of medical expenses or if there are state-specific issues to be considered?
This article represents opinions of the authors and not those of their firm and are subject to change from time to time, and do not constitute a recommendation to purchase and sale any security nor to engage in any particular investment or legal strategy. The information contained here has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed for accuracy.