Audit Letter From IRSUse October while it is still October
October is the month that can still change what next spring's notice will ask, if the books are closed while the choice is open. Next spring's envelope is drafted from the months you close now, and October is the last month that still changes what that draft says.
Plan OctoberExplanation is the expensive season
Read Explanation is the expensive season
Spring is when the return gets signed and when notices are born from what the return said. A bonus that is actually paid, an asset placed in service, or an estimate that matches this year can still be decided before the file locks. After the file hardens, that choice is gone. A retirement contribution belongs in the same window. None of those moves are magic. All of them are unavailable in April if nobody looked.
The federal estimate makes this concrete. The payment is not a guess you copy from last year's bill and divide by four. It should follow the year you are having. If the books are a guess, the estimate is a guess, and the return is a story. We close the months so the estimate is a copy of something the bank already agrees with. That is less romantic than a loophole and much more useful when a notice arrives later asking where the number came from.
October is when a lot of owners feel the year turning, usually at the kitchen table after the shop is closed. We use that feeling. Not as a mood. As a reminder that the calendar still has room for a retirement contribution, an asset placed in service, or an estimate that matches this year. A video call in that month is worth more than a heroic weekend in March.
What the next envelope sees
Read What the next envelope sees
The next envelope sees the return, and the return sees the books. If those were built in a hurry from bank downloads and memory, the envelope has more to ask. If they were built from closed months, the envelope is more often a copy request than a mystery. We still read it. We just read it faster, and you sleep.
Estimates are the other half. A safe harbor that follows last year's tax, or a projection from this year's closed months, is a plan. Last year's bill divided by four, with no look at what changed, is how April becomes a surprise. We would rather you know the number while you can still fund it.
The notice in your hand today still gets answered on its own date. October planning does not pause a date that is already printed. Do both. Honor the date, and build the file, and let October change what next year's page has to say.
What October can still change
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.