Tax planning that looks ahead

Tax preparation reports a year that is already over; tax planning shapes the year still in progress. Haven describes its own approach this way: “Most tax and accounting firms look backward at what happened. Our process starts there but moves to looking ahead.”

The backward look still matters. A finished return shows your income mix, your withholding, which deductions you used and where the bill came from. That record is the starting point for every planning conversation, which is why we treat planning as part of each return rather than a separate product.

The forward look is where liability can still change. Before December, there is time to adjust estimated payments, to time income or deductions where the rules allow it, and to check whether a phaseout is about to cost you one of the newer deductions. After December, most of those choices are gone. Planning for an individual is built on the personal return; for an owner, the business return and the books come into it as well.

The four 2026 estimated tax payments are due April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. Those dates come from the 2026 Form 1040-ES.

Estimated payments apply when you expect to owe $1,000 or more after withholding and credits. That usually means self-employment income, partnership or S corporation profits, rental income, or investment gains that no employer withholds on. The gaps between the due dates are uneven: two months between the first two, three months before the third, then four before the last.

The January payment has an exception. If you file your 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay the full balance with it, you can skip the January 15 installment.

Part of planning is setting these amounts on purpose instead of copying last year’s figures. A projection of the current year, described on our tax projections and advisory page, tells us whether the payments are on track or need to move before the next due date.

The safe harbor is met when your withholding and estimated payments reach the smaller of 90% of your 2026 tax or 100% of your 2025 tax. If your 2025 adjusted gross income was over $150,000, or over $75,000 for married filing separately, the prior-year figure rises to 110%.

The two tests serve different situations. The prior-year test is predictable: your 2025 return already gives the number, so you know the target on day one. The current-year test is useful when income is falling, because 90% of a smaller bill can be less than last year’s total. Choosing between them takes a projection of where 2026 is heading.

For higher earners, the 110% rule is the one that catches people. A household with a strong 2025 can owe a large balance when its 2026 return is filed and still be inside the safe harbor if the payments matched 110% of the prior year. We show clients both figures so the payment schedule is a decision, not a guess. The rules here are from IRS Form 1040-ES for 2026.

A planning relationship at Haven follows four steps the firm names on its own site: onboarding, a meeting cadence, timely communications and ongoing educational content. Each one has a job.

Onboarding is where we learn your situation: what you file, what you own, who else advises you and what you expect to change. The meeting cadence puts planning conversations on the calendar, so they happen during the year instead of in April. Timely communications cover the moments between meetings, such as a new rule or a due date coming up. The educational content explains what changed and why it matters to you, in plain terms.

The co-founders bring two different credentials to that work. Mike Swartz is a CPA, and Chris Bryant holds the CFP® certification, so the tax view and the wider financial picture are both in the room. Documents for every step move through the secure client portal, so the file stays in one place from year to year.