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As we head into the end of the year, this an ideal time to take a look at your overall wealth picture and make sure everything is aligned with what matters most to you. Whether you are looking for new ideas to save on taxes or to create the legacy you envision, here are ten key planning ideas to consider

Income tax planning

1. Accelerate paying deductible expenses and bunch deductions

Under the new 2025 tax law,1 the standard deduction amounts in 2025 are:

  • $15,750 for unmarried individuals (other than surviving spouses or heads of households)
  • $31,500 for married couples filing jointly
  • $23,625 for heads of households

The new 2025 tax law also:

  • Incrementally reduces the tax benefit from itemized deductions in 2026
  • Places a floor on charitable contribution deductions

If you are in the top income tax bracket, you may want to accelerate paying deductible expenses in 2025, while keeping income tax liability and alternative minimum tax in mind. Strategically bunching itemized deductions in certain tax years may also help you take advantage of these changes.

2. Estimate and plan to pay taxes

income tax return form

You may want to consider calculating (or re-calculating) the income taxes that you expect to pay, confirming that you’ve made sufficient tax payments during the year (either through withholding or estimated taxes).

You’ll also want to plan for any taxes that will be due, whether through additional estimated tax payments or a final tax payment.

Wealth transfer planning

3. Make annual exclusion gifts

In 2025, the annual exclusion allows an individual to give up to $19,000 to any number of individuals ($38,000 per married couple) free of gift tax. Any gifts in excess of this amount count against an individual’s lifetime exemption.

4. Making gifts using the lifetime exemption

Lifetime exemption (i.e., gift and estate tax exemption) gifts are those that don’t qualify for any of the following:

  • Gift tax annual exclusion
  • Tuition exclusion
  • Medical expense exclusion
  • Marital deduction
  • Charitable deduction.

In 2025, an individual’s lifetime exemption is $13.99 million.2 Under the new 2025 tax law, the exemption is increased to $15 million starting in 2026, with an annual inflation adjustment beginning in 2027.3

Making gifts using your lifetime exemption allows you to potentially remove from your estate any future appreciation of the money or property you give away.

Trust planning and administration

5. Consider sending Crummey notices

You may have an irrevocable trust (for example, an irrevocable life insurance trust) designed so that one or more of the beneficiaries has the power to withdraw some or all of each contribution made to the trust. When a beneficiary withdraws a contribution from this type of trust, the contribution is a gift to the beneficiary and qualifies for the gift tax annual exclusion.4

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When you make a contribution to the trust, the trust agreement may require you to provide notices to the beneficiaries, who can withdraw some or all of the contribution. Even if the trust agreement doesn’t require the trustee to send those notices, it may be advantageous to do so to ensure that the contribution qualifies for the gift tax annual exclusion (to the extent of the withdrawal powers).

6. Making year-end distributions from nongrantor trusts

As year-end approaches, a grantor or beneficiary of a nongrantor trust might ask the trustee to consider distributing the trust’s income (and, depending on the terms of the trust, the trust’s capital gains) to the beneficiaries who are taxed at lower rates than the trust. This may be more tax efficient, because trusts are subject to compressed income tax brackets and a lower threshold for the 3.8% net investment income tax.

Under the 65-day rule, the trustee may make a distribution within the first 65 days of 2026 and, for tax purposes, treat it as being made on December 31, 2025.5 This gives the trustee some extra time to evaluate whether to make a distribution. Of course, the trustee should consider the tax status, goals, and objectives of the trust and beneficiaries before making any tax-motivated distributions to the beneficiaries.

Charitable giving

7. Making year-end gifts

When contemplating year-end gifts, you should be mindful of practical issues associated with completing the gift. For example:

  • Gifting a physical stock certificate may take several weeks to complete
  • Gifts of real estate involve preparing a deed, signing it, and delivering it to the charitable organization

Keep in mind that a charitable deduction depends on the:

  • Type of asset gifted
  • Particular charitable organization to which the asset is gifted

You as the donor will be subject to adjusted gross income (AGI) limitations on your charitable contributions based on these factors.6

8. Front-loading and bundling charitable gifts

Female teacher and high school teenage students preparing robot on desk in classroom

Starting in 2026, the new 2025 tax law will set a minimum threshold that an individual taxpayer’s charitable contributions must exceed in order for that taxpayer to get any tax benefit from claiming them as itemized deductions.

That threshold is 0.5% of an individual taxpayer’s AGI. This means that if an individual taxpayer’s contribution base is $1 million and they itemize their deductions, that taxpayer receives no benefit for the first $5,000 contributed to charity.

These new charitable restrictions do not take effect until 2026, so this limitation does not apply to charitable contributions made in 2025. An individual taxpayer who itemizes in 2025 will generally still have their charitable contributions count beginning with the first dollar donated. For this reason, if the 0.5% threshold is a concern, you might consider front-loading your contributions in 2025, rather than waiting until 2026.

9. Private foundation distribution requirements

If you have created a private foundation and remain involved in its management (such as a director or trustee), you should review the foundation’s investments and operations before year-end, including the distribution requirement.

The foundation generally must make qualifying distributions of at least 5% of the foundation’s assets each year. In general, qualifying distributions include grants to public charities and administration expenses (but do not include investment management fees).7 The failure to make the required annual 5% distribution results in excise taxes on the shortfall.

10. Making qualified charitable distributions

If you are 70½ or older, you might consider making a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from an IRA to a public charity (other than a donor advised fund or supporting organization).8

In 2025, an individual generally can make up to $108,000 of QCDs.9 To qualify as a QCD, the distribution must be made from an IRA directly to a qualifying charity.10 An individual’s QCDs may count toward the individual’s required minimum distributions.11

Keep in mind that a QCD:

  • Isn’t includible in the IRA owner’s income and thus isn’t subject to income tax.12
  • Doesn’t qualify for an income tax charitable deduction.13

Excluding a QCD from income and allowing an income tax deduction for the distribution would be a double tax benefit.

See the complete whitepaper, Top ten year-end planning ideas for 2025, for a detailed analysis of all 10 items plus additional resources. To discuss tax efficient planning ideas and strategies for your particular circumstances, please reach out to a UBS Financial Advisor.

The Advanced Planning Group consists of former practicing estate planning and tax attorneys with extensive private practice experience and diverse areas of specialization, including estate planning strategies, income and transfer tax planning, family office structuring, business succession planning, charitable planning and family governance.

Neither UBS Financial Services Inc. nor its employees (including its Financial Advisors) provide tax or legal advice. You should consult with your legal counsel and/or your accountant or tax professional regarding the legal or tax implications of a particular suggestion, strategy or investment, including any estate planning strategies, before you invest or implement.

1 On July 4, 2025, the President signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (H.R. 1). Under the new 2025 tax law, the income tax rates that were established pursuant to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will be permanent for tax years after 2025.
2 IRC § 2010(c) and Rev. Proc. 2021-45. This assumes that the individual is a US citizen.
3 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Pub. L. No. 119–21, 139 Stat. 72 (2025).
4 Crummey v. Commissioner, 397 F.2d 82 (9th Cir. 1968). For more information about annual exclusion gifts, see making annual exclusion gifts above.
5 IRC § 663(b).
6 More precisely, these limits are based on the donor’s contribution base, which is the donor’s AGI calculated without regard to any net operating loss carrybacks.
7 There are detailed regulations addressing the calculation of the fair market value of a foundation’s assets and administrative expenses that can be applied for purposes of determining the 5% distribution requirement.
8 IRC § 408(d)(8)(B). A distribution from an active SEP IRA or an active SIMPLE IRA, however, doesn’t qualify as a qualified charitable contribution.
9 IRC § 408(d)(8)(A).
10 IRC § 408(d)(8)(B)(i).
11 Id.
12 IRC § 408(d)(8)(A).
13 IRC § 408(d)(8)(E).

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