Before the Ball Drops: Your 2026 Year-End Financial Checklist

Kathy Williams, RFC®

November 06, 2026

A few financial decisions are easier to make in November than in the last week of December. Adjusting your final paychecks, transferring investments to a charity, and taking a required minimum distribution all take time. Other moves, such as making a 2026 IRA contribution, can wait until the spring tax filing deadline.

Every fall, we walk clients at Advance Financial Lighthouse through a year-end review. This year, higher retirement contribution limits and new rules for charitable giving may change what makes sense for you.

1. Make the most of your retirement contributions

If you want to increase your employee contributions to a workplace retirement plan for 2026, check with payroll before your final pay periods. Ask when a new election would take effect and how much room you have left under your plan’s limits.

Account	2026 base limit	Total at ages 50–59 and 64+	Total at ages 60–63
401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), and Thrift Savings Plan	$24,500	$32,500	$35,750
Traditional and Roth IRAs combined	$7,500	$8,600	$8,600

The workplace totals include applicable age-based catch-up contributions. IRA limits are shared across traditional and Roth IRAs. Income can affect your eligibility to contribute directly to a Roth IRA and whether you can deduct a traditional IRA contribution.

New for 2026. If your 2025 Social Security wages from the employer sponsoring your plan exceeded $150,000, your age-based catch-up contributions to a workplace plan subject to the rule must go in as Roth contributions. Check with your plan administrator. If the plan has no Roth feature, you may be unable to make those catch-up contributions.

You can generally make a 2026 IRA contribution by the April 2027 federal tax filing deadline, without extensions.

2. Review your tax picture before December 31

Harvest investment losses. Selling investments at a loss in a taxable account can offset realized capital gains. If losses exceed gains, you can generally deduct up to $3,000 against other income, or $1,500 if married filing separately. Unused losses carry forward. The wash-sale rule can disallow a loss if you buy substantially identical securities within 30 days before or after the sale.

Consider a partial Roth conversion. A lower-income year, such as the period between retirement and the start of Social Security or required distributions, may be a good time to convert part of a traditional retirement account. To count for 2026, the conversion must be completed by December 31. A completed conversion cannot be reversed. If you owe a required minimum distribution for the year, take it before converting. The required amount is ineligible for conversion.

Decide whether you’ll itemize. Compare your expected itemized deductions with your standard deduction before deciding which deductible payments to make in December and which can wait until January.

Check the additional deduction for age 65 or older. Eligible taxpayers can claim up to $6,000 per qualifying person for tax years 2025 through 2028, whether they itemize or take the standard deduction. The deduction begins to phase out when modified adjusted gross income exceeds $75,000, or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.

These decisions affect other parts of your return. We coordinate with your tax professional before putting them into action.

3. Give with a strategy under the new charitable deduction rules

Beginning in 2026, the federal deduction for charitable gifts depends in part on whether you itemize.

If you take the standard deduction, you can deduct up to $1,000 in cash gifts to eligible charities, or $2,000 if married filing jointly. Gifts to donor-advised funds are ineligible for this deduction.

If you itemize, only eligible charitable contributions above 0.5% of your adjusted gross income are deductible for the year, subject to other applicable limits. With $200,000 of adjusted gross income, for example, the first $1,000 of giving falls below the deduction threshold.

If you’re in the top federal tax bracket, a separate limitation can reduce the tax benefit of your overall itemized deductions.

Consider three ways to structure your giving.

Bunch several years of gifts into one year. Combining gifts can help you exceed both the standard deduction and the annual charitable deduction floor. A donor-advised fund can let you contribute in one year and recommend grants to charities over time.

Donate appreciated investments. If you itemize and donate eligible securities you’ve held for more than one year to a qualifying public charity, you may be able to deduct their fair market value, subject to applicable limits, and avoid realizing capital gains on the donated shares.

Use a qualified charitable distribution. If you’re at least 70½ when the gift is made, you can direct up to $111,000 per eligible IRA owner in 2026 from an eligible IRA to qualifying charities. A qualified distribution is excluded from income, can count toward your required minimum distribution, and is unaffected by the new charitable deduction floor. Donor-advised funds are ineligible recipients.

If you plan to give securities or make a qualified charitable distribution, contact your custodian by early December and ask about its processing deadlines.

4. Take your required minimum distributions on time

For traditional IRA owners who reach their required starting age in 2026, that age is 73. Once annual required minimum distributions, or RMDs, are underway, they’re generally due by December 31 each year. Some people who are still working can delay RMDs from their current employer’s plan until retirement, depending on the plan and their ownership interest in the business.

You can generally delay your first RMD until April 1 of the following year. If you do, your second RMD is still due by December 31 of that same year. Taking both distributions in one calendar year can increase your taxable income.

If you inherited a retirement account, check both the final withdrawal deadline and whether an annual distribution is due. Under the 10-year rule, annual distributions are generally also required when the original owner died on or after their required beginning date. A missed RMD can trigger a federal excise tax of 25% of the shortfall, which can generally drop to 10% if corrected within the applicable correction window.

5. Check your benefits enrollment deadlines

Medicare. Open enrollment runs October 15 through December 7. Review your prescriptions, provider network, and expected out-of-pocket costs before deciding whether to keep your current coverage for 2027.

Federal benefits. Federal Benefits Open Season runs November 9 through December 14, 2026. Eligible federal employees and retirees can review their health, dental, and vision coverage. Eligible employees who want to participate in FSAFEDS must make a new election each year.

Employer benefits. Review your health, disability, and life insurance elections and confirm any flexible spending account elections for 2027.

Health savings accounts. If you’re eligible to contribute to an HSA, the 2026 limits are $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, plus a$1,000 catch-up contribution if you’re 55 or older. Employer contributions count toward the limit. Medicare enrollment ends contribution eligibility for the months covered by Medicare. You can generally make eligible 2026 contributions by the April 2027 federal filing deadline.

Flexible spending account balances. Check your plan’s spending deadline, any grace period or carryover, and the deadline to submit claims.

6. Give to family and review your estate documents

The 2026 federal annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per giver, per recipient for qualifying gifts. A married couple can give $38,000 per recipient using both spouses’ exclusions. If one spouse makes the gift and the couple elects to split it for tax purposes, a federal gift tax return is generally required. Unused annual exclusions do not carry forward.

If you’re funding a 529 education savings plan, you can contribute up to $95,000 per giver, per beneficiary in 2026 and elect to spread the gift over five years for federal gift tax purposes. The election requires filing Form 709. Other gifts to the same beneficiary during that period can affect how much of your annual exclusion remains available.

Year-end is also a good time to review:

Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, annuities, and life insurance, since those designations generally determine who receives the assets

Financial powers of attorney and health care directives

Whether accounts intended to be held by your trust are titled accordingly

Any changes needed after a marriage, divorce, birth, or death in the family

The federal estate and gift tax basic exclusion amount is $15 million per person in 2026. An up-to-date estate plan can help your family carry out your wishes and avoid unnecessary delays, regardless of the size of your estate.

7. Business owners, review your options before year-end

Retirement plan for 2027. If you’re considering a new plan or changes to an existing one, discuss the design and timing now. Some plans require advance notice to employees.

Owner compensation. If your business is taxed as an S corporation, review your salary and distributions with your accountant to confirm that your compensation is reasonable for the services you provide.

Equipment and timing. Eligible equipment placed in service by December 31 may qualify for immediate expensing. Ask your tax professional how the timing of income and expenses affects your business and personal returns.

SEP contributions. You can generally make Simplified Employee Pension contributions for 2026 by your business tax return deadline, including extensions.

Succession and buy-sell agreements. Check whether the valuation, funding, and insurance provisions still reflect the business and the agreement.

Start the conversation now

Start with the items that have a firm deadline or need someone else to process them. Then focus on the decisions that matter most to your income, your goals, and the people you’re planning for.

As a fee-based fiduciary practice, Advance Financial Lighthouse has guided individuals, families, federal employees, and business owners through financial decisions since 1996. If you’d like to review your year-end checklist with us, schedule a conversation or call our office at (405) 843-2380.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as tax or legal advice. Consult your tax professional or attorney regarding your individual situation.

Securities and advisory services offered throughOsaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Insurance services offered through Advance Financial Lighthouse, which is not affiliated withOsaic Wealth, Inc.

Sources

IRS guidance on 2026 retirement contribution limits and catch-up contributions

IRS Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses and Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax

IRS Working Families Tax Cuts and guidance on the enhanced senior deduction

IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from IRAs and required minimum distribution FAQs

Medicare Open Enrollment and OPM’s 2026 Federal Benefits Open Season announcement

IRS 2026 HSA limits and Publication 969, Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans

IRS gift tax FAQs, Form 709 instructions, and Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business

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Before the Ball Drops: Your 2026 Year-End Financial Checklist