Tax Planning

Overview/Description
 Veteran radio and television host Arthur Godfrey once said, "I'm proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is--I could be just as proud for half the money." With proper planning you too can be proud for half the money. Understanding how federal income tax works is the first step in successfully saving money on your taxes--money that can be better spent on your personal financial goals. This course will provide you with the necessary skills to properly plan how to save money on your taxes by minimizing your tax bill.

Target Audience
 General American audience

Expected Duration
5.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Calculating Your Taxes

  • recognize the benefits of knowing rules about calculating taxes.
  • recognize the steps to calculating the federal marginal tax rate for employed and self-employed individuals.
  • calculate the federal marginal tax rate for an employed and self-employed individual, given a scenario.
  • identify deductions that are allowed or disallowed when calculating the alternative minimum tax.
  • recognize the rules for taxing capital gains and losses.
  • choose if a specific individual will be taxed on capital gains and losses.
  • determine how the gain exclusion rules apply when given various situations.

    • Tax Planning Strategies

  • recognize the benefits of understanding how to use tax planning strategies.
  • match year-end tax strategies to examples of the appropriate circumstance in which they should be used.
  • choose the appropriate income deferral technique for a specific individual, in a given scenario.
  • determine which prepaying and bunching technique is appropriate for a given scenario.
  • match the methods of year-end tax planning to examples.

    • Tax Strategies for Higher Earners

  • recognize the benefits of understanding tax strategies for high earners.
  • identify the advantages of choosing low-dividend growth stock.
  • determine how given high income earners can use their homes to minimize their income taxes.
  • determine how a given individual should use income splitting as a tax-saving strategy.
  • identify examples of tax-saving strategies that apply to high earners who have children in college.

    • Course Number: PD0143