The Planning Corner: Your Tax Return Is Filed—Now What?
Apr 13 2026 | Back to Blog List
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
David Ernst: Hi everyone, I'm David Ernst, partner at Cedar Point Capital Partners, here with Nick Timm, our director of financial planning. Today we're talking about how to use your previous year's tax return to make better financial decisions.
Nick, when you review a tax return, where do you start?
Nicholas Timm: Yeah, there are four basics that we'll look at first:
- What was the total income?
- Where were those income sources from?
- What were the deductions or credits that were used?
- And what additional tax were you subject to, like the net investment income tax or the additional Medicare tax.
From there, we'll decide—should we increase your income for the current year or should we maybe look at ways to decrease?
David: Let's hit the increase income. When does that make sense?
Nick: That makes sense when tax rates in the future look like they would be higher. So, for example, we might look to do some partial Roth conversions. We might look to realize some capital gains in the year. We want to recognize taxes at a lower rate [now] rather than the higher rate in the future.
David: And if 2026 is a reduced income year, what does that mean?
Nick: Then we'll lean on those pre-tax deferrals. We'll try to find any deductions or credits that are out there. We'll look to some charitable giving, potentially bundling some charitable giving in the form of a donor-advised fund that can give us a higher deduction in one year if we're looking to reduce the income.
David: And you're also looking at future years, correct?
Nick: Right. So, we'll look at last year, we'll look to see if there's any bonuses, any equity compensation, any sale of businesses that might have made last year a little bit higher. Also, is there a retirement in the future? Is there the sale of a business in the future? Things that might affect it in the future that we might want to be proactive today.
David: Thanks, Nick. Your tax return is an important financial planning tool, not just a form you file. We'd like to help you learn how to use it better. Please reach out to us at cedarpointcap.com.
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