4/15/2015

Extra time for IRA contributions. While 401(k) contributions typically need to be made by the end of the calendar year, you have until April 15, 2015, to make IRA contributions that count toward tax year 2014. “For a lot of my clients, we wait until 2015 because we want to see what their tax return looks like,” says Robert Reed, a certified financial planner for Partnership Financial in Columbus, Ohio. “We can see if it will make more sense for us to do a traditional IRA and get the tax break this year or do a Roth IRA and pay the tax this year and then not pay tax again ever.” You can type a hypothetical IRA or Roth IRA contribution into tax preparation software to see how much you could save on your tax bill. However, if you wait until 2015 to contribute to an IRA for tax year 2014, make sure you specify which tax year the contribution should be applied to. Financial institutions may automatically apply contributions to the calendar year when they are received unless you indicate otherwise.