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At the beginning of the year there are deadlines that affect your finances, and you don’t want to miss them. Although it may be easy to procrastinate when it comes to your taxes, it is not recommended.
Here are four money deadlines to take care of as soon as 2026, based on the following Blog post from Fidelity.
1. Contribute to tax-advantaged accounts
Tax-advantaged accounts like IRAs and HSAs can generally accept 2025 contributions until the tax deadline, which falls on April 15 in 2026. If you’re saving for college in a 529 plan account and your plan offers state tax benefits, check to see if contributions are required by the end of 2025.
2. Donate to charity to reduce your tax bill
If you itemize deductions, you can deduct charitable donations made in 2025 from your adjusted gross income. If you’re donating cash to a qualified charity, you can generally deduct up to 60% of your AGI. If you are donating appreciated securities held for a long period of time, you can generally deduct up to 30% of your AGI based on the fair market value of the securities (not their original cost).
For example, if your adjusted gross income is $100,000, you can deduct up to $60,000 in cash donations or $30,000 in the fair market value of appreciated securities.
3. Take your required minimum distribution
If you’re age 73 or older, you generally must take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from most pre-tax retirement accounts, such as traditional IRAs and traditional 401(k) plans. Under current law, the penalty for failing to take the required RMDs is 25% of the amount not withdrawn, although this can be reduced to 10% if the mistake is corrected promptly.
If you turn 73 in 2025, you have until April 1 to take your first RMD. However, keep in mind that delaying your first withdrawal means you must also take your 2026 RMD by December 31, 2026, which could result in two taxable distributions in the same year.
4. Tax loss harvesting
If you have suffered unrealized losses from some of your investments, you can sell them to offset those losses, then use them to offset capital gains from other investments. This can potentially reduce your tax burden.
If you offset all of your gains and still have losses left, you can use up to $3,000 per year to offset ordinary income ($1,500 if married filing separately), with any remaining losses carried forward to future years. To apply the losses to your 2025 taxes, the transaction must be completed by December 31, 2025.
With all these tasks taken care of in early 2026, look ahead to the rest of the year. Remember to keep track of all these items so you don’t have to run around at the end of next year.