IMPORTANT INFORMATION · TAX SAVINGS
Tax Savings
Most of our clients in North Carolina and Georgia hire us at tax season and stop thinking about it until the following March. The habits that actually compound — Roth conversions in low-bracket years, contribution-order discipline, entity-choice reviews, family payroll, charitable bunching — run on a different calendar. The three tracks below organize those habits the way we use them in our own offices in Winston Salem and Valdosta, and the way we discuss them in year-round planning conversations.
THREE WORKING TRACKS
The goal is lower lifetime taxes — not just April's bill.
Each track below is the year-round version of a category we talk about with clients regularly. Pick the one that matches the bulk of your tax situation this year; the tracks often overlap for a single household, and the right move is usually to read two of them rather than force a single choice. Every page is written in M&M's standard plain-English voice, with NC and Georgia specifics called out where they matter and a quarterly checklist at the end so the reading turns into a habit.
Individual Strategies
A year-round sequence we walk through with our NC and GA individuals every January: contribution order across 401(k), HSA, IRA, taxable; Roth conversions in low-bracket bridge years; tax-loss harvesting with wash-sale awareness; DAF bunching; AOTC / 529 coordination; and Premium / Saver's credit catch-ups.
Open the track Small BusinessSmall Business Strategies
Behind the operator's door in Winston Salem and Valdosta: entity choice revisited on a real cadence, S-corp reasonable compensation and the SE-tax shift, the QBI 20% deduction engineered to the W-2 and UBIA tests, retirement plans sized to headcount, Section 179 and bonus-depreciation timing, NC and GA multi-state nexus, and the hiring credits most owners leave on the table.
Open the track HouseholdsFamily Strategies
Family-specific federal and NC / GA moves that compound across years: Child Tax Credit with phase-outs and ACTC, the Credit for Other Dependents, Child and Dependent Care Credit with a Dependent Care FSA, NC and GA 529 plans, AOTC vs. LLC per student, the family-tier HSA, paying kids through a family business, the Kiddie Tax, and family-LLC / FLP estate moves.
Open the trackWhy year-round planning beats last-minute moves
The single largest miss we see on a typical 1040 is not a wrong number — it's a missed move. A Roth conversion that had to be sized in November, an HSA contribution that needed a contribution window by April 15, a donor-advised fund that required setup before December 31, an S-corp salary adjustment that needed to be on the December payroll. Each of those has a window that closes whether you used it or not. Last-minute planning can recover some of them, but not all of them, and almost never the ones that matter most.
The other reason year-round work wins is interaction: most of the moves on these three pages affect the same dollars. A 401(k) contribution decision interacts with an HSA contribution decision; an S-corp salary decision interacts with a QBI deduction; a 529 plan interacts with a HOPE credit; a Roth conversion interacts with the next year's Medicare IRMAA surcharge. Sequencing those decisions throughout the year is the difference between a return that's technically accurate and a plan that actually compounds.
- Most moves have a deadline. Some deadlines (HSA contributions, IRA contributions) run through April 15. Others (Section 179, bonus depreciation, charitable contributions, donor-advised fund grants) close at year-end. A handful of moves (entity election, most retirement-plan establishment) run on a tax-year basis.
- Most moves interact with other moves. The correct size of a Roth conversion depends on the current AGI, which depends on what's already in your 401(k), which depends on whether you're eligible for an HSA. Run them in the right order.
- NC and GA add specific moves. North Carolina offers a 529 deduction; Georgia offers a generous retirement-income exclusion at age 62+. The federal plan is rarely the whole picture in either state.
- The plan should be rebuilt every year. Income changes, family changes, bracket changes, law changes. A plan from two years ago is rarely the right plan today; a quarterly check is the cadence most of our long-running clients settle into.
HOW WE PRICE THIS WORK
Most of our clients start with a 30-minute sit-down covering the three tracks together. The first pass usually produces two or three concrete moves for the year and a short list of things to revisit at the next quarterly check. The fee is either bundled into our annual tax-prep engagement or billed separately as a short planning project; for very small situations we often fold the planning into the return itself. There is no obligation to engage on all three tracks at once.
Want help building a year-round plan?
Bring your last two 1040s — we'll pull the moves still on the table.
THREE TRACKS
Open the track that fits your tax situation this year
Individual Strategies
Year-round framing with NC and GA specifics and a quarterly checklist at the end.
Open the track TrackSmall Business Strategies
Year-round framing with NC and GA specifics and a quarterly checklist at the end.
Open the track TrackFamily Strategies
Year-round framing with NC and GA specifics and a quarterly checklist at the end.
Open the trackREADY TO ACT?
Turn a tax-prep habit into a year-round plan
A 30-minute sit-down with one of our senior advisors usually surfaces two or three specific moves you can make inside the next ninety days — whether that is sizing a Roth conversion, picking the right contribution order, or timing a piece of equipment into the right tax year.