Wealthy clients have had their hands full with tax considerations this year, including recent law changes and the sunsetting of many provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) at the end of 2025.

For instance, in 2026, the current lifetime estate and gift tax exemption of $12.92 million per individual will likely revert to some $5 million. “With the sunsetting of some of the TCJA provisions, some clients are up against that deadline to execute planning strategies,” says Thomas Pontius, senior financial planner at Kayne Anderson Rudnick in Los Angeles.

Advisors say it’s crucial that clients and tax planners meet now to plan for tax law changes that may not happen until years from now.

“General advice in the tax world is not as valuable as understanding the tax implications based on your specific circumstances,” Pontius says.

“Wealthy clients are often very busy with their career or business and often don’t have the time to think through the tax consequences of their investments and how they relate to their income,” says Erik Preus, head of investment solutions at Envestnet PMC in Minneapolis.

“The biggest mistake is not making time to plan, or addressing issues or concerns when there may be time constraints,” adds Chris Murray, practice leader in tax services and partner at Aspiriant in San Francisco.

Now might also be time to grab a required minimum distribution from a retirement account after reviewing plan balances and asset allocations, considering clients’ current age, estimated life expectancy and their forecast after-tax cash-flow needs, says Timothy P. Speiss, a partner at Eisner Advisory Group LLC in New York.

Speiss also tells advisors to keep an eye on the Federal Reserve for possible interest rate cuts, and he notes that clients could sell equities now at historic highs, despite peri- odic market ups and downs.

And he says clients should ask: “Where do we stand on realized gains and losses [year- to-date]?” He adds, “This is typically a year-end conversation.” But “client discussions should occur now. ... If they have a tax-loss carryforward from previous years, is there a profit they might want to take now?”

Tax brackets are due to get tougher soon. “Don’t miss the opportunity to take advantage of the known, current low tax bracket by filling in income up to [the threshold of] the next bracket,” says Jennifer Chomicki, senior director of advanced planning strategies at Edelman Financial Engines in Fairfax, Va. “And watch your timing on selling appreciated stock and assets.” That extra income may cause clients to pay more in Medicare because of the monthly adjustment amounts on the program related to income (or IRMAA adjustments).

Chomicki adds that this would also be a good year to consider a 1031 exchange—which allows for the swapping of real estate properties with deferred capital gains—and that installment sales on any sale of assets or a business now can help clients defer taxes on some of the gain into later years.

Donor-advised funds also continue to be popular among clients who want to maximize their charitable giving deductions, Murray says.

Meanwhile, Murray adds, clients must also keep paying attention to their retirement funding, “whether it’s funding a solo 401(k) if a taxpayer has consulting income to looking at opportunities to do [a] backdoor Roth IRA or mega-backdoor Roth contributions. The opportunity to take advantage of tax-deferred or tax-free accounts is key to good planning.”

“Many wealthy clients, particularly business owners, have income that varies considerably year to year. This naturally leads to variability in their tax liabilities,” Preus says. “When this is the case, it can be very important for [wealthy] investors to have certainty over the capital gains taxes associated with their investments. Being able to control gains realization with your investments, particularly in years where investors’ income is higher, can be a very powerful way to protect your after-tax wealth.”

Planning over the next year or so really means planning for the years beyond, advisors said.

“Tax laws will almost certainly change after 2025, when the income tax cuts from the TCJA are set to expire,” Preus says. “Even if some provisions are made permanent, there will likely be substantial changes regardless of which party prevails in the 2024 election.”