Step by Step Personal Tax Savings Strategies

• 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), or TSP: Contribute up to $24,500 in 2026.
• If you're 50 or older, you can make an additional $8,000 catch up contribution, totaling $32,500.
• If you're aged 60–63, the catch up limit increases to $11,250, allowing a total contribution of $35,750.
• New for 2026: if your 2025 wages from your employer were over $150,000, your 401(k)/403(b) catch-up contributions must be made as Roth rather than pre-tax. The dollars still go in; they just go in after tax and come out tax free.
• Traditional or Roth IRA: Contribute up to $7,500 in 2026.

If you're 50 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,100, totaling $8,600.

If your employer retirement plan allows for after tax contributions and in plan Roth conversions or in service rollovers, then you may be able to take advantage of the Mega Backdoor Roth IRA by following the below steps:

1. Confirm with your HR Department or plan administrator to confirm your retirement plan allows for 1) after tax (non Roth) contributions beyond $24.5K, and
2. Either in plan Roth conversions OR in service withdrawals.
3. Subtract your employee deferrals (and any employer matches) from the $72K limitation to determine the amount you can contribute as an after tax contribution.
4. Log into your retirement account or contact HR to set up the after tax contribution based on the amount determined in the prior step.
5. Convert these after-tax contributions by completing an in-plan Roth conversion, or In Service Withdrawal to a Roth IRA. Please keep in mind that any earnings on after tax funds will be taxable when converted and so it’s best to convert quickly to minimize earnings and the resulting taxes.

If you're enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP):

• Self-only coverage: Contribute up to $4,400 in 2026.
• Family coverage: Contribute up to $8,750 in 2026.
• If you're 55 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,000.

Healthcare FSA: Contribute up to $3,400 in 2026.

Dependent Care FSA: contribute up to $7,500 per household ($3,750 married filing separately). This limit doubled from $5,000 starting in 2026, so revisit your election if you set it years ago.

Commuter Benefits: If offered by your employer, use pre tax dollars to pay for commuting expenses.

Dependent Care FSA: As mentioned above, contribute to cover eligible dependent care expenses.

• Mortgage Interest: Consider making your January 2027 mortgage payment by December 31, 2026, to include the interest in your 2026 deductions.
• State and Local Taxes (SALT): For 2026 the SALT cap is $40,400 ($20,200 married filing separately). Above $505,000 of modified AGI the cap shrinks by 30 cents for every extra dollar of income, until it bottoms out at $10,000 (which happens a bit above $606,000 of income). Many physician households land at the $10,000 floor, which is why the pass-through entity tax election matters; see our PTET guide.
• Charitable Contributions: Deduct donations up to 60% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) when contributing to qualifying public charities. Starting in 2026, itemized charitable deductions only count to the extent total gifts exceed 0.5% of your AGI, which is one more reason to bunch several years of giving into one year (see our Donor Advised Fund guide).

Medical Expenses: Deduct unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your AGI.

• Tax Loss Harvesting: Offset capital gains by selling investments at a loss. You can deduct up to $3,000 in capital losses against ordinary income annually, with any excess carried forward to future years.

One of the most efficient tax strategies out there is donating appreciated stock to charities (as opposed to cash). This works great because you are able to take a deduction based on the fair market value of the securities, without ever having to recognize and pay taxes on the gain.

So rather than selling securities, recognizing a gain, paying tax on that gain, and then contributing the remaining cash to a charity, it is far more tax efficient to simply contribute the appreciated stock itself to a charity.

A Donor Advised Fund is also a powerful tax planning tool that allows you to front load charitable contributions (and get the deduction today), while allowing funds to grow tax free in the fund and disbursing those funds to charity in later years. You can combine this strategy with the use of donating appreciated stock for the ultimate tax planning combination. Some donor advised funds even allow you to contribute cryptocurrency to them.