Your Taxes Are Filed, Now Start Reducing the Next Bill

If you filed your 2025 return at the October 15 extension deadline last week, the size of your tax bill is probably still fresh in your mind. Whether you made an additional payment with that return or had already covered the tax through earlier payments, you know how much of your income went to taxes.

Before you put the return away, use it to start a different conversation: what can we implement now to reduce the liability on the next return?

The immediate target is your 2026 tax liability, reported on the return you file in 2027. Planning for 2027 income should begin alongside it. The work starts now, while decisions can still affect the outcome.

Claiming Every Deduction Is Only Part of the Work

“My CPA already takes every deduction I’m entitled to.”

That may be entirely true. Your return can be accurate, your expenses properly documented, and every available deduction claimed. You may still have opportunities to reduce your tax liability through decisions you have not yet made.

Claiming deductions addresses the activity that has already occurred. Tax mitigation adds the work of evaluating and implementing a plan that may create additional deductions or otherwise change the tax result.

The question after filing is whether you have a plan in place for the income you are earning now.

Evaluate Programs That Could Reduce Your Tax Bill

We start by evaluating your tax bill and what is driving it. From there, we review tax programs that could reduce the liability on your next return. For each program, we assess the specific actions required, the timing of implementation, and the cost compared with the projected financial benefit.

Tax-planning programs often build on incentives in the tax code that encourage particular investments or activities. The opportunity is to identify which incentives fit your circumstances and implement the actions needed to qualify for them.

Properly implemented, a suitable program can provide a net cash benefit when its tax savings and cash proceeds exceed the full cash cost of participation. The review should account for upfront funding, ongoing obligations, and later tax effects over the period being evaluated.

Model How Specific Tax Planning Could Change Your Taxes

Start with a projection of your taxes based on the income you expect to earn this year. Then model a specific strategy against that baseline, using deductions you qualify for and can actually use.

The model should show how the strategy affects your adjusted gross income or taxable income, how much it could reduce your federal and state tax liability, and when those savings would occur. Include the capital you would commit, fees and financing costs, and any future tax effects so you can see the financial impact of implementing the plan.

This gives you a concrete basis for action: what could you save, what would you need to commit, and what must happen to achieve the projected result?

When a strategy fits, use the model to set the funding and implementation schedule. The projection becomes a plan for changing the tax bill on your next return.

Why the Third and Fourth Quarters Are Prime Time

The third and fourth quarters are prime time to evaluate tax mitigation strategies. By then, you generally have a clearer picture of your annual income and a useful estimate of your adjusted gross income, or AGI. That helps us determine the type and size of deduction to target and which programs may be a fit.

It also provides a window to evaluate the options, model the potential savings, and coordinate implementation before the applicable deadlines. Starting earlier in this window gives us more room to complete the required work.

For many programs, key actions must be completed during the tax year for which the deduction will be claimed. Waiting until it is time to file your return may be too late.

Schedule a Half-Hour Tax Mitigation Consultation

At Sanguine Tax Mitigation, we offer numerous tax programs that can produce meaningful tax savings. Now is prime time to act: evaluate what could still reduce your 2026 liability and begin 2027 with a plan already underway.

A half-hour consultation could be the first step toward keeping more cash in your pocket. We’ll discuss your tax situation, identify programs worth evaluating, and outline the next steps.

Schedule your 30-minute consultation with Sanguine Tax Mitigation.

October 15, 2026, was the general extended filing deadline for 2025 individual returns. A filing extension generally did not extend the deadline to pay.

For general educational purposes. Tax outcomes depend on the taxpayer, transaction, and applicable law.