20 smart ideas to reduce your taxes

Black Enterprise, Oct, 1992 by Patricia M. Carey

The bottom line, say financial experts, is planning, and plenty of it. Coleman, for example, advises updating your tax planning whenever "a significant event" occurs in your life. "Starting a business, buying or selling real estate, retirement, receiving a retirement plan distribution, refinancing your mortgage, marriage, selling assets, a large donation to charity--any of those would warrant a tax consultation," he says.

Of course, for most people, tax planning is a lot like going to the dentist. You know you should do it, but you keep delaying. Try thinking of it this way. If you delay too long, April 15 could hit you like a root canal without Novocain. Is that a wallop you can afford?