Check Off Your Year-End Tax Planning Checklist

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Elizabeth Maresca was featured on New York 1 in the second part of a two-part series on year-end tax tips.

As the year ends, it is time to tie up any loose financial ends.

For one thing, check your flexible spending plan and find a way to spend any money that’s still in there. In many cases, there is a use it or lose it deadline of December 31.

“I have a friend who is an optician and she says it gets very busy after Christmas because people come in to buy glasses and other things you can use your flex spending accounts for,” says Elizabeth Maresca, clinical professor at Fordham Law School.

Looking to net more deductions?  Maresca says it pays to get a jump start on next year’s bills. If you itemize, make your January mortgage payment in December so the interest counts for this year. The same goes with property taxes.

“If you have property taxes that are due, then you want to make those payments before December 31 so you can deduct them for 2015,” Maresca says.

“Keep a folder and as the tax information comes in, to take those things from the mail and put them right in your folder, so you’re not scrambling when you go to prepare your taxes,” Maresca says.

Watch the full report.

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