Client Notice: Year-end Reminders

December11, 2020:

With additional responsibilities placed on so many right now, we wanted to share a concise list of considerations for year-end planning and an easy reference for frequently asked questions: 

 

  • IRA, SEP IRA, and ROTH IRA Considerations:  
    • Deadlines: The deadline for individual retirement account contributions is the tax deadline for that given year.  That said, the deadline for your 2020 contributions is currently set to be April 15th, 2021.  
    • Distributions: Required minimum distributions are not required for 2020.  
  • 401(k)/Employer Plan Considerations: 
    • Deadlines and Contributions: If maxing out annual contributions, remember to reset 401k contribution percentages. For those in higher tax brackets, a consider contributing to the Roth 401k option of your plan.  401k contribution limits remain unchanged for 2021 at $19,500 and $6,500 catch up.  
  • Donor Advised Fund Reminders:
    • To be applied to the 2020 tax year, contributions must be made by December 31st, 2020. With processing teams experiencing extreme volume at the custodial level, we recommend getting contributions in by December 23rd, as well as account applications if needed.  As a reminder, you will not have to designate the donation recipient by year-end, but will need to fund the account.  
  • Cyber Security and Identity Theft Reminders: 
    • Identity theft and fraud usually spike during the holiday season and can take many forms, such as online scams (fake charities or products), email phishing, credit card fraud, or people claiming to be from the government asking to verify your personal information by either phone or email.  Therefore, be on heightened alert this season and please notify us if you ever become the victim of identity theft or have your personal information compromised in any way.  This continues to be a focus for Centerpoint in order to protect the privacy of our clients. 
  • Estate Planning and Asset Retitling: 
    • The annual gifting limit for 2020 is $15,000.  
    • At this time of year people often begin to outline goals for the New Year ahead or perhaps reflect on those important items which they were unable to accomplish over the past twelve months. We encourage you to take this opportunity to make an appointment with your estate attorney in the coming months to review all documents and asset titling for possible updates. While many may have their estate documents complete, the final steps of account registration changes and asset retitling is critical to fully complete the estate planning process.