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Married filing jointly is a temporary tax status.The IRA balance isn't.When the joint return becomes a single return, br...
08/15/2026

Married filing jointly is a temporary tax status.

The IRA balance isn't.

When the joint return becomes a single return, brackets compress. The account is still there. RMDs continue. The survivor inherits both the assets and the tighter map.

Longevity planning and tax planning are the same conversation once you admit one of you will likely file alone.

What's harder to talk about in your house — longevity, or taxes?

Inherited IRAs don't land in a vacuum.They land in a son's W-2 year. A daughter's peak earning decade. A grandchild's fi...
08/15/2026

Inherited IRAs don't land in a vacuum.

They land in a son's W-2 year. A daughter's peak earning decade. A grandchild's first big promotion. Under the 10-year rule, those withdrawals often hit while the heir's own tax rate is highest.

So the planning question isn't only "how much is in the IRA?" It's "whose bracket absorbs it?"

Roth versus traditional changes that answer for the next generation — not just for you.

Have you talked with adult kids about this, or does it stay theoretical?

A pension feels like safety. It can also fill the lower tax brackets before you touch an IRA.For someone with a governme...
08/15/2026

A pension feels like safety. It can also fill the lower tax brackets before you touch an IRA.

For someone with a government or corporate pension plus a traditional 401(k)/IRA, the "empty bracket space" available for Roth conversions may be smaller than the brochure examples assume. The pension is already sitting in those brackets every year.

Sequence matters: which income arrives first, and what's left underneath for optional conversions.

Do pensions get treated as a free pass in most retirement conversations you hear — or as income that crowds the bracket?

The conversion decision often dies in a spreadsheet that never gets opened.Not because the math is mystical — because it...
08/14/2026

The conversion decision often dies in a spreadsheet that never gets opened.

Not because the math is mystical — because it feels optional until RMDs make it mandatory. By then, the low-income years between retirement and age 73 (or 75) are already gone.

The one number worth running earlier: what does a modest annual conversion cost in today's brackets versus the same dollars forced out later?

If you had to name the blocker — complexity, fear of the tax bill, or "we'll deal with it later" — which wins?

There's a filing-status change that does more damage than most people expect.When a married couple becomes a single file...
08/14/2026

There's a filing-status change that does more damage than most people expect.

When a married couple becomes a single filer after a death, the same IRA balance and similar income can face a tighter bracket map and a smaller standard deduction. Nothing about the account balance changed — the checkbox did.

That's why "we'll figure it out later" is a tax plan for the survivor, whether anyone meant it that way or not.

What's the one tax change you think widows and widowers hear about too late?

For executives with RSUs or deferred compensation, "retirement year" isn't always the lowest-income year.The final vest ...
08/14/2026

For executives with RSUs or deferred compensation, "retirement year" isn't always the lowest-income year.

The final vest year can stack a last block of equity income on top of full salary — quietly raising the cost of every ordinary-income move made that same year, including Roth conversions.

Timing isn't just about age. It's about whose calendar you're on: yours, or the vest schedule.

Have you ever seen a vest year wipe out what looked like a "good" conversion window on paper?

RMDs aren't a surprise party. They're on the calendar.For most people, Required Minimum Distributions start at 73 (75 if...
08/13/2026

RMDs aren't a surprise party. They're on the calendar.

For most people, Required Minimum Distributions start at 73 (75 if born in 1960 or later). The amount is formula-driven. You don't get to skip a year because Medicare premiums or tax brackets are already high.

The squeeze is the pile-up: forced income + IRMAA lookback + Social Security taxation, all in the same season of life.

What age are you targeting for your first intentional draw from retirement accounts — before RMDs, or only when required?

The enhanced senior deduction is temporary.Per the IRS: an extra $6,000 per eligible person age 65+, for tax years 2025 ...
08/13/2026

The enhanced senior deduction is temporary.

Per the IRS: an extra $6,000 per eligible person age 65+, for tax years 2025 through 2028. A married couple gets $12,000 only if both spouses are eligible. It phases out starting at $75,000 MAGI (single) or $150,000 (joint).

After 2028, that extra layer disappears unless Congress renews it. The older age-based standard-deduction add-on stays; this one doesn't.

Temporary provisions create planning calendars. Permanent ones don't.

If you had to guess: does Congress extend this in 2029, or let it expire?

Public-sector and some nonprofit workers have a different early-access rule than private-sector 401(k) owners.After sepa...
08/12/2026

Public-sector and some nonprofit workers have a different early-access rule than private-sector 401(k) owners.

After separation from service, many 457(b) plans allow withdrawals at any age without the 10% early-withdrawal penalty that usually applies before 59½. The withdrawal is still taxable as ordinary income — the penalty is what changes.

That one difference can reshape the order of which accounts get tapped first in the early retirement years.

Do you (or does someone you know) still have money in a 457(b)?

The number on an IRA statement is not the number heirs keep.Under current rules, most non-spouse beneficiaries must empt...
08/12/2026

The number on an IRA statement is not the number heirs keep.

Under current rules, most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty an inherited IRA within 10 years. Those withdrawals stack on top of their own wages — often in their peak earning years.

So a $750K traditional IRA can land as a much smaller after-tax inheritance, depending on whose bracket absorbs it.

When families talk about "leaving the IRA to the kids," how often do you hear the 10-year rule come up?

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