We had a fascinating conversation with John Emerson. He provides such a wealth of experience and knowledge, we could have picked his brain for much longer than an hour.

Deduction lumping tries to overcome the higher standard deduction hurdle. By concentrating multiple years of deductions within the same tax year, it’s possible to produce a tax benefit that otherwise would not have happened.

In wrapping up your 2017 taxes, you may have noticed that your account produced more taxable income than in previous years. Much of the reason may be capital gain distributions, a negative symptom of a positive trend.