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If your donating clothes or household goods to charity, there's an IRS trap you need to know about! In a recent Tax Court case, a taxpayer lost a $6,760 charitable deduction—not because the donations were improper, but because his documentation failed to meet strict technical requirements. The court didn’t question his generosity. It denied the deduction because the receipts and Form 8283 were incomplete. Here’s the key issue: For non-cash donations over $250, you must obtain a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity. For donations over $500, you must also maintain detailed records showing what you donated, when you acquired the items, and their cost or basis. Form 8283 must be completed accurately, including donation dates and fair market values. Generic receipts that say “miscellaneous household items” are not enough. And once an audit begins, you cannot fix missing documentation afterward. The deduction is simply lost. The safest approach is proactive. Before donating, prepare a detailed list of items, including descriptions and estimated values; take photographs; and provide the list to the charity so it can reference the list in its acknowledgment. Keep all supporting records with your tax files. The bottom line: Good intentions are not sufficient. With charitable deductions, documentation is everything. If you want to discuss donations of clothing and household goods, please call me directly at 360-777-6911 or email joe.davis@thrivent.com. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

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If your donating clothes or household goods to charity, there's an IRS trap you need to know about! In a recent Tax Court case, a taxpayer lost a $6,760 charitable deduction—not because the donations were improper, but because his documentation failed to meet strict technical requirements. The court didn’t question his generosity. It denied the deduction because the receipts and Form 8283 were incomplete. Here’s the key issue: For non-cash donations over $250, you must obtain a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity. For donations over $500, you must also maintain detailed records showing what you donated, when you acquired the items, and their cost or basis. Form 8283 must be completed accurately, including donation dates and fair market values. Generic receipts that say “miscellaneous household items” are not enough. And once an audit begins, you cannot fix missing documentation afterward. The deduction is simply lost. The safest approach is proactive. Before donating, prepare a detailed list of items, including descriptions and estimated values; take photographs; and provide the list to the charity so it can reference the list in its acknowledgment. Keep all supporting records with your tax files. The bottom line: Good intentions are not sufficient. With charitable deductions, documentation is everything. If you want to discuss donations of clothing and household goods, please call me directly at 360-777-6911 or email joe.davis@thrivent.com. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

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When you retire, you leave behind many things—the daily grind, the commute to work, and maybe even your previous home. However, one thing that will always remain is your tax bill. When you understand how investments are taxed and set strategies accordingly, you can make the right decisions that help keep income taxes in check. Will Your Taxes Affect Your Retirement? Join me for this event on Friday 6 March at 5pm at the Gig Harbor Library at 4424 Point Fosdick Dr, Gig Harbor, WA 98335, where you will learn strategies to work toward a lower tax bracket in retirement! There will be light refreshments. No products will be sold. Thrivent financial advisors and professionals have general knowledge of the Social Security tenets. For complete details on your situation, contact the Social Security Administration. Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional. See thrivent.com/social for important disclosures. 27878-15M R11-20

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When you retire, you leave behind many things—the daily grind, the commute to work, and maybe even your previous home. However, one thing that will always remain is your tax bill. When you understand how investments are taxed and set strategies accordingly, you can make the right decisions that help keep income taxes in check. Will Your Taxes Affect Your Retirement? Join me for this event on Friday 6 March at 5pm at the Gig Harbor Library at 4424 Point Fosdick Dr, Gig Harbor, WA 98335, where you will learn strategies to work toward a lower tax bracket in retirement! There will be light refreshments. No products will be sold. Thrivent financial advisors and professionals have general knowledge of the Social Security tenets. For complete details on your situation, contact the Social Security Administration. Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional. See thrivent.com/social for important disclosures. 27878-15M R11-20

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Plan your finances for the people, causes and community you love | Thrivent

This One Mistake Can Make Your QCD Fully Taxable! After age 70 1/2, you may direct up to $111,000 in 2026 from your traditional IRA to a qualified charity; for married couples, each spouse may give that amount from their own IRA. The QCD can count toward your RMD once you reach age 73, and the QCD stays out of your adjusted gross income. Lower adjusted gross income can help you avoid higher tax brackets, higher Medicare premiums, and taxation of Social Security benefits. The trouble arises under the strict no-benefit rule. You must send a QCD directly to a Section 501(c)(3) charity, not to a donor-advised fund. More important, you must not receive anything of value in return. If you do, the IRS treats the entire distribution as taxable. Even a small benefit can spoil the result. For example, a $250 ticket to a charity dinner will cause a $5,000 QCD to become fully taxable. Charities must provide written acknowledgements for QCDs of $250 or more. If that acknowledgement lists goods or services received, the tax-free treatment disappears. The IRS allows limited exceptions. You may receive insubstantial benefits without harming a QCD, such as low-value items or token merchandise, generally capped at $139 in 2026 ($136 in 2025) and subject to percentage limits. Intangible religious benefits from churches also remain acceptable. Before you authorize a QCD, confirm that you will receive nothing of value beyond these exceptions. Careful planning protects the tax advantages QCDs can provide. If you want to discuss QCDs, call me directly at 360-777-6911 or email joe.davis@thrivent.com. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Plan your finances for the people, causes and community you love.

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Exciting news! Thrivent has been named to Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies list for the first time. Honored to be part of an organization recognized for its innovation, quality of management, financial soundness and commitment to long-term value. Learn more about this recognition here: https://bit.ly/466lt23

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Exciting news! Thrivent has been named to Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies list for the first time. Honored to be part of an organization recognized for its innovation, quality of management, financial soundness and commitment to long-term value. Learn more about this recognition here: https://bit.ly/466lt23

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Plan your finances for the people, causes and community you love | Thrivent

When Tax Preparer Fraud Keeps the IRS Audit Door Open Forever!!!!! You filed your return. You paid what you owed. And after three years passed, you assumed that chapter of your tax life was closed for good. But what if it never really closed at all? Under a little-known interpretation of the fraud exception to the statute of limitations, misconduct by your tax preparer—not you—can keep an IRS audit window open indefinitely. In some courts, it doesn’t matter that you never intended to cheat, never knew anything was wrong, and relied entirely on a licensed professional to get it right. This article walks through a recent case in which the IRS audited a tax return filed in the 1990s (27 years ago), asserting massive tax, penalties, and interest based solely on a preparer’s fraud. It explains why “I didn’t know” failed in Tax Court and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; how tax preparer fraud can be imputed to you, the taxpayer; and what you should be doing now to keep decades-old tax returns from coming back to life. Contact me at 360-777-6911 or email joe.davis@thrivent.com or schedule a meeting for the article and learn how to potentially avoid or minimize this pitfall. Takeaways You are legally responsible for every number on your return, even if a preparer enters the data. Under Allen and Murrin, “I didn’t know” is not a defense to the unlimited statute of limitations for fraud in Tax Court and the Third Circuit. The three‑year statute of limitations is effectively a privilege that can be lost when a return is deemed fraudulent. BASR draws a different line, limiting the fraud exception when only the preparer—not the taxpayer—intended to evade tax. This is why forum and appellate circuit selection are now central strategic decisions in fraud‑related disputes involving the statute of limitations. Until the Supreme Court resolves this conflict, taxpayers and advisors must assume that in some courts, “forever” in Section 6501(c)(1) really does mean forever. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Plan your finances for the people, causes and community you love.

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When you retire, you leave behind many things—the daily grind, the commute to work, and maybe even your previous home. However, one thing that will always remain is your tax bill. When you understand how investments are taxed and set strategies accordingly, you can make the right decisions that help keep income taxes in check. Will Your Taxes Affect Your Retirement? Join me for this event on Friday 30 Jan at 415pm at the Gig Harbor Library at 4424 Point Fosdick Dr, Gig Harbor, WA 98335, where you will learn strategies to work toward a lower tax bracket in retirement! There will be light refreshments. No products will be sold. Thrivent financial advisors and professionals have general knowledge of the Social Security tenets. For complete details on your situation, contact the Social Security Administration. Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional. See thrivent.com/social for important disclosures. 27878-15M R11-20

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When you retire, you leave behind many things—the daily grind, the commute to work, and maybe even your previous home. However, one thing that will always remain is your tax bill. When you understand how investments are taxed and set strategies accordingly, you can make the right decisions that help keep income taxes in check. Will Your Taxes Affect Your Retirement? Join me for this event on Friday 30 Jan at 415pm at the Gig Harbor Library at 4424 Point Fosdick Dr, Gig Harbor, WA 98335, where you will learn strategies to work toward a lower tax bracket in retirement! There will be light refreshments. No products will be sold. Thrivent financial advisors and professionals have general knowledge of the Social Security tenets. For complete details on your situation, contact the Social Security Administration. Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional. See thrivent.com/social for important disclosures. 27878-15M R11-20

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Thrivent Social Media Privacy Policy, Guidelines, Disclosures & Disclaimers

Why Serious Landlords Rely on the 1031 Exchange. If you own rental property and want to become a big-time landlord, use the Section 1031 exchange to -sell appreciated properties, pay no federal income taxes, and reinvest all proceeds; -trade up into larger or better‑performing properties, such as moving from one‑door rentals into multifamily rentals; -avoid taxes during your lifetime; and -bequeath the property at death to your heirs, who receive a step-up in basis to fair market value. Critical Step 1 To get your Section 1031 exchange on track, engage a qualified 1031 real estate exchange intermediary. You need to do this first, before starting down the sale or purchase path with your property, even though the intermediary will not start working on your case until you buy or sell. But no worries here: your intermediary will communicate what you need to do. Choose your intermediary firm with the same care you would for investing significant funds. Your tax and financial advisors likely can give you guidance Contact me at 360-777-6911 or email joe.davis@thrivent.com for additional steps. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Learn more about Thrivent's social media privacy policy and guidelines.

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Thrivent Social Media Privacy Policy, Guidelines, Disclosures & Disclaimers

Your 2025 Year-End Tax Planning Guide for Tax-Saving Tips! As we approach the end of 2025, there’s still time to take action and make a real difference in your tax outcome for the year. With thoughtful planning and a few strategic steps, you can reduce your tax bill, strengthen your retirement savings, and position your finances for a better 2026. Below are some year-end moves to consider before December 31. Each one is practical, IRS-approved, and designed to help you keep more of what you’ve earned. Strengthen Your Business Deductions before December 31 1. Prepay Expenses Under the IRS Safe Harbor If you’re on the cash basis, you can prepay qualifying expenses up to 12 months in advance and deduct them this year. That includes office rent, equipment leases, and insurance premiums. For example, if your monthly office rent is $3,000, prepaying $36,000 on December 31 to cover your 2026 rent gives you a $36,000 deduction in 2025—and it provides the landlord with the income when he wants it, in 2026. Be sure to mail the funds on December 31 so they arrive in January 2026, and keep documentation, such as the USPS tracking number. 2. Hold Off on Year-End Billing A simple yet effective move for cash-basis businesses: delay billing clients until January. Since you don’t recognize income until payment is received, postponing invoices can shift taxable income into 2026. 3. Purchase Needed Equipment If you’ve been planning to buy office furniture, computers, or machinery, doing it now can provide a full deduction through 100 percent bonus depreciation or Section 179 expensing—as long as you place the equipment in service before December 31. 4. Use Business Credit Cards Wisely For Schedule C filers, the deduction occurs on the date of the charge, not when you pay the bill. That means charges made in December are deductible this year. Corporations can do the same when employees are using a corporate card. 5. Document and Claim Every Legitimate Deduction Don’t avoid deductions because you think they might raise red flags. If they’re legitimate and supported by records, you’re entitled to them. If deductions exceed your income, that loss may create a net operating loss (NOL) that carries forward to offset future profits. 6. Review Qualified Improvement Property If you improved the interior of your business or one of your commercial rental properties this year, those costs may qualify for immediate expensing rather than 39-year depreciation. To take the deduction for 2025, you must place the improvement in service by December 31. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Learn more about Thrivent's social media privacy policy and guidelines.

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Thrivent Social Media Privacy Policy, Guidelines, Disclosures & Disclaimers

Learn How to Beat 2025 Estimated Tax Penalties Instantly, Today! Here’s an important tax planning strategy that can save you thousands in penalties if you’ve missed estimated tax payments for 2025. The Penalty Problem When you don’t make your 2025 estimated tax payments on time, the IRS charges a non-deductible 7 percent penalty that compounds daily. Because penalties are not deductible, they are considerably more costly than deductible interest. Simply writing a check today won’t erase the penalties. It only prevents them from growing further. But there is a powerful way to make them disappear entirely. The One Perfect Solution By using a retirement account with 60-day rollover provisions, you can eliminate estimated tax penalties instantly. Here’s how: • Withdraw funds from your IRA, 401(k), or other eligible plan, and direct the custodian to withhold federal income tax. • Repay the full amount into the retirement account within 60 days using other funds. The IRS treats the withheld taxes as if they were made evenly across all four estimated tax deadlines. And because you repaid the account within 60 days, the withdrawal is not taxable, and no penalty applies. Other Options and Pitfalls If you are age 73 or over, you can use withholding taxes from required minimum distributions (RMDs) to cover both your RMD and your estimated tax needs. Don’t use a W-2 bonus. It triggers payroll taxes and can reduce your Section 199A deduction—likely more costly (and perhaps far more costly) than the penalty itself. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Learn more about Thrivent's social media privacy policy and guidelines.

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Thrivent Social Media Privacy Policy, Guidelines, Disclosures & Disclaimers

TAX SAVINGS TIPS! OBBBA Restores and Creates New 100 Percent Deductions for You Now. If you plan to buy equipment, furniture, computers, or other personal property for your business, the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) delivers great news. You can now deduct the full cost of such property in a single year—without limit. For manufacturers, the OBBBA goes even further by creating a new 100 percent deduction for factories and other production-related real estate. disclosures:thrivent.com/social Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Learn more about Thrivent's social media privacy policy and guidelines.

Licensing is available through your State Insurance Department’s website, which can be located through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website.

Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Thrivent financial advisors and professionals have general knowledge of the Social Security tenets. For complete details on your situation, contact the Social Security Administration.

Thrivent provides advice and guidance through its Financial Planning Framework that generally includes a review and analysis of a client’s financial situation. A client may choose to further their planning engagement with Thrivent through its Dedicated Planning Services (an investment advisory service) that results in written recommendations for a fee.

Thrivent is the marketing name for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Insurance products issued by Thrivent. Not available in all states. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Thrivent Investment Management Inc., a registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC, and a subsidiary of Thrivent. Licensed agent/producer of Thrivent. Registered representative of Thrivent Investment Management, Inc. thrivent.com/privacy-and-security/disclosures.

Insurance products, securities and investment advisory services are provided by appropriately appointed and licensed financial advisors and professionals. Only individuals who are financial advisors are credentialed to provide investment advisory services. Visit Thrivent.com or FINRA’s Broker Check for more information about our financial advisors.

Designations

For additional information on professional designations and the requirements to earn them, visit https://www.thrivent.com/designations

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Center for Financial Planning, Inc. owns and licenses the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the United States to Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., which authorizes individuals who successfully complete the organization's initial and ongoing certification requirements to use the certification marks.

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