Rebecca Rosenberger Smolen, left, and Amy Neifeld Shkedy, right, of Bala Law Group. Rebecca Rosenberger Smolen, left, and Amy Neifeld Shkedy, right, of Bala Law Group.

It's time for our annual year-end tax planning tips. Hopefully some of our readers have already started to think about (or better yet, implement) year-end planning. In this article we have listed some key issues to consider before the end of the year:

Annual Exclusion Gifts

Each individual can make a cumulative annual gift tax exclusion gift of $16,000 per donee during 2022, and the IRS has announced that this amount will increase to $17,000 for 2023 ($32,000 for a married couple electing to split gifts in 2022, or $34,000 in 2023), without using any portion of his federal estate and gift tax exemption (discussed below). Annual exclusion gifts can be made outright, through 529 Plan benefits (education savings accounts), or in special qualifying trust structures. For those still considering such gifts, it may be worthwhile to plan for 2022 and 2023 at the same time, keeping in mind that gifts for 2023 can be made effective as of Jan. 1.