Photo by Megan Watson on Unsplash
November is time to get your tax ducks, uh, turkeys in a row. Moves this month include perennials like adjusting withholding and adding to your nest egg, as well as ways to reduce the earnings amount on which you’ll be taxed.
November is the perfect time to get your tax ducks, uh, turkeys in a row.
With two month’s left in the 2026 tax year, you have some flexibility. This month’s moves take advantage of that, looking mainly at proactive November tax actions that could help reduce your 2026 tax bill.
But there’s also some tax law reminders to prevent you from running a-fowl (sorry, not sorry) of Uncle Sam’s tax collector.
With the tax table set, let’s get to this November’s five suggested tax moves.
1. Adjust paycheck withholding to cover estimated taxes.
You paid your third quarter estimated tax amount last month. But you just got a side job to earn some extra holiday cash. You’re also a bit concerned, at least from the tax standpoint, that your investments’ end-of-year payouts are going to be more than your estimated income calculation earlier this year.
If your four equal estimated payments come to at least the full amount of tax you owed last year (or 110 percent of that liability if your income is more than $150,000), this safe harbor payment amount will protect you from an underpayment penalty.
But if you would like to whittle down the eventual 2026 estimated tax amount due before you make the final payment on Jan. 15, 2027, you can adjust withholding on your salaried income. That additional withholding will help cover a potential estimated tax shortfall.
And since it will be spread over November and December paychecks, the effect of the added withholding shouldn’t be that problematic for your budget.
2. Decide whether to itemize or take the standard deduction.
Regardless of how you pay your taxes, the ultimate goal is the same. You want that bill to be as small as possible. One way to do that is to through deductions.
Most of us claim the standard deduction amount. However, changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), such as the temporary but dramatic increase in how much state and local taxes (SALT) can be claimed, have made itemizing more valuable for some taxpayers.
You can choose each filing season which deduction route to take, either the standard amount or itemized total on Schedule A.
You’ll always want to use the one that’s larger. If you itemize, you can maximize that tally by bunching allowable expenses into one tax year.
Bunching is most often used by taxpayers who alternate year-to-year between itemizing and claiming the standard deduction. Basically, they pay two years’ worth of eligible deductions in the tax year they will itemize. Then the next tax season, they use the standard deduction amount.
To maximize a bunching strategy, you need to have it in place soon enough to pay off. If the 2026 tax year is the one in which you plan to itemize, you still have time to start your bunching this November.
3. Harvest your investment losses.
You also can reduce your tax liability lowering your amount of taxable income. If investment income is part of your earnings, a relatively easy way cut that tax bite is to harvest tax losses.
Here you sell holdings that didn’t perform so well and use the resulting capital losses to offset your taxable gains. You can start examining that possibility this month, giving you time to assess and reallocate your portfolio without facing a year-end rush.
Once you’ve zeroed out your gains, use up to $3,000 of the excess losses to reduce your taxable ordinary income. Any more than $3 grand can be carried forward to reduce future tax years’ gains.
4. Add to your nest egg.
Another way to lower taxable income is to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, particularly those that will make your post-work years more comfortable.
I know, persistent inflation has meant many families are facing budget challenges. But if you do have some extra dollars, consider adding to your retirement account(s). Even if you can’t afford to put in this year’s maximum $24,500 for a workplace 401(k) plan or $7,500 for an IRA, save as much as you can.
Older workers can save even more in 2026. Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act 2.0 provisions increased catch-up contributions to IRAs, both traditional or Roth, to $1,100 for account owners age 50 or older.
The limit for workplace plan catch-up contributions in 2026 for older employees is $8,000. That means these workers can contribute a maximum in 2026 of $32,500. And a SECURE Act change gives employees aged 60, 61, 62, and 63 an even larger catch-up contribution amount of $11,250 in 2026, giving them the potential to put away $35,750 in a tax-deferred retirement account.
Tax-savvy readers already know you do have until next April 15 to make IRA contributions for the preceding tax year. But the sooner you put money into the account, the longer it has to grow tax-deferred if it’s a traditional IRA, or tax-free if it’s a Roth.
When it comes to 401(k)s or similar workplace retirement plans, Dec. 31 is the last day you can put money for the current tax year into those accounts. Bumping up your 2026 contributions starting this month will help these savings grow faster, too.
5. Share some of your bounty.
We can’t talk about November Tax Moves without mentioning one that fits nicely with the spirit of Thanksgiving. If you’ve had an abundant year, consider sharing your good fortune with others.
Donations to Internal Revenue Service-approved public charities have always been tax deductible if you itemize. Now, a OBBBA change that took effect this year allows standard deduction filers to claim some claim some cash donations, too.
This above-the-line charitable deduction is worth up to $1,000 for individual taxpayers who claim the standard deduction. The donation deduction is up to $2,000 for married jointly filing couples who don’t itemize.
If you itemize, you still can claim those charitable gifts. However, while the OBBBA expanded the tax savings for standard deduction filers, it reduced them for donors who itemize. Charitable gifts claimed on Schedule A now are cut by an amount equal to 0.5 percent of the taxpayers’ adjusted gross income.
This effectively lowers the tax benefit of giving for higher earners to 35 percent for itemized charitable gifts instead of the 37 percent top tax rate they pay.
Taking any tax break doesn’t lessen the value of your gift. It might, in fact, mean more tax savings that you can put toward other charities that you support
And tax benefits aside, those who benefit from the kindness of strangers appreciate any amount any of us can give. Regardless of how much or little tax benefit such goodwill provides, I’ll guarantee that helping others, especially as we enter the year-end holiday season, pays off in even more valuable ways.
