October has a way of arriving faster than expected, and with it comes a cluster of tax deadlines that tend to catch people off guard. The stretch from now through December 31 is one of the more consequential planning windows of the year. Most of the levers available to reduce your 2026 tax bill require action before the calendar flips, and unlike April, there is no extension for that.

What Are the Most Important Tax Deadlines in Q4 2026?

Before diving into strategy, a few dates worth circling:

• October 15: Final deadline to file your extended 2025 tax return. No further extensions available.
• December 15: California pass-through entity (PTE) estimated tax payment deadline
• December 31: Hard deadline for RMDs, Roth conversions, annual gifting, tax-loss harvesting, and 401(k) contributions
• January 15, 2027: Q4 2026 estimated federal and state tax payments due

What Tax Law Changes in 2026 Should You Know About?

A few meaningful updates are worth understanding as context. The federal estate tax exemption was permanently raised to $15 million per individual and $30 million for married couples under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (adjusted annually for inflation), which may shift the focus of estate planning for many families away from estate tax minimization and toward income and capital gains management. The federal State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap was raised to $40,000 for most filers, though it phases down for those with modified adjusted gross income above $500,000. If your income has shifted meaningfully this year relative to last, it may be worth revisiting whether your estimated payments or withholding are still calibrated correctly.

Is Tax-Loss Harvesting Worth Doing Before December 31?

After several years of strong market performance, many portfolios are carrying meaningful embedded gains. Tax-loss harvesting needs to be completed before December 31, and for California residents, where capital gains are taxed as ordinary income with no preferential long-term rate, the value of those harvested losses is amplified relative to most other states. Losses realized before year-end may offset gains recognized earlier in 2026, including those from:

• RSU vesting
• Concentrated stock sales
• Other liquidity events

For those in direct indexing or long/short strategies, reviewing where the portfolio stands now may surface additional opportunities before the window closes. At the very least, try to finish the year with a net of $3,000 in capital losses (either short-term or long-term) as that is the amount which you can offset ordinary income.

What Tax Moves Have to Be Done Before December 31?

A number of meaningful tax moves require action before December 31. A few that cannot be deferred:

• Required minimum distributions (RMDs) for those 73 and older are required to be taken by December 31, and failure to do so may result in an IRS excise tax on the shortfall
• Roth conversions must be completed before year-end to count toward 2026
• Annual gifting up to the $19,000 per recipient exclusion must be executed before December 31
• 401(k) and employer-sponsored plan contributions must be completed by year-end through payroll
• If you don’t think you will hit the $40,000 annual cap for state and local taxes (SALT), consider prepaying the next installment of your property taxes or paying some of your state income taxes in the current tax year up to the cap in order for it to be deductible

For those who have been meaning to act on any of these, October and November are the right time to do it.

Can You Lower Your Tax Bill Through Charitable Giving and Retirement Contributions?

A few strategies are worth considering as you approach year-end and into early 2027. Contributing appreciated securities directly to a charity or donor-advised fund (DAF) rather than selling first may allow the embedded gain to be bypassed. For those eligible, a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) allows a direct transfer from an IRA to a qualifying charity, which may satisfy part or all of an RMD without the distribution counting as taxable income. It is also worth noting that IRA contributions can be made up until the tax filing deadline next spring and still count toward the 2026 tax year, which may be worth factoring into broader retirement planning.

Do California Residents Pay More in Taxes and What Can You Do About It?

The short answer is yes, in most cases. California taxes capital gains as ordinary income with no preferential long-term rate, meaning the combined federal and state burden on investment gains can be substantially higher than in most other states. That makes year-end tax planning particularly consequential for California residents.

A few California-specific strategies are worth reviewing before year-end. For business owners operating through a partnership, LLC, or S corporation, California’s pass-through entity (PTE) elective tax allows the entity to pay state taxes directly, which may allow those taxes to be deducted at the business level rather than being subject to the federal SALT deduction cap at the individual level. The December 15 estimated payment deadline for this election is worth noting, as missing it does not void the election but may reduce the available credit. For those with equity compensation, reviewing how expected vesting events and year-end bonus timing interact with total 2026 income before December may also surface planning opportunities that are no longer available once the year closes.

At Traveka Wealth, we work with clients across Los Altos and the Bay Area to think through year-end planning as part of a coordinated financial strategy. The conversations that happen in October and November tend to be considerably more useful than the ones that happen in late December. If you would like to review where things stand before the window closes, we are glad to start that conversation now.

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This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any security or investment product or services. The content of this material is provided solely for your personal use and shall not be deemed to provide access to any particular transaction or investment opportunity. Traveka Wealth, LLC (“Traveka”) does not intend the information in this material to be investment advice, and the information presented in this material should not be relied upon to make an investment decision. Any third-party information contained herein was prepared by sources deemed to be reliable but is not guaranteed.  All opinions expressed by the participants are solely opinions and should not be relied upon as potential or actual results.

Certain of the information contained herein has been obtained from third- party sources and has not been independently verified. It is made available on an “as is” basis without warranty. Any strategies or investment programs described in this presentation are provided for educational purposes only and are not necessarily indicative of securities offered for sale or private placement offerings available to any investor. 

The views expressed in the referenced materials are subject to change based on market and other conditions. This document contains certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. Please note that any such statements are not guarantees of any future performance; actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Any projections, market outlooks, or estimates are based upon certain assumptions and should not be construed as indicative of actual events that will occur. Historical performance results for investment indices and/or product benchmarks have been provided for general comparison purposes only, and do not include the charges that might be incurred in an actual portfolio, such as transaction and/or custodial charges, investment management fees, or the impact of taxes, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. If performance fees are stated, the performance returns are net of fees which include expense ratios and other fees of the underlying investments but does not include Traveka’s advisory fees. Traveka’s advisory fee will reduce the returns shown in this document.