Andrew Shilling

Failing to pay taxes on side-gig earnings and keeping faulty records of business-related expenses must avoided to prevent an excessive tax burden.

In what was a stellar year for corporates, governments nearly missed the list entirely.

While some tax-planning tasks can be time-sensitive, the challenge is to tackle the others that aren’t in a calculated fashion, an expert explains.

"Keep records and watch the statute of limitations. The usual IRS statute of limitations is three years after you file your tax return," an expert writes.

Deferred taxation on these retirement products, in part, depends on how their distributions are made.

More than half of them track the industry’s top-performing category.

Adjusting a federal income tax return depends on personal tax circumstances, “such as the materiality of the error,” an expert says.

Despite the exodus, all of the mutual funds and ETFs on the list posted net gains for the year.

Clients who have yet to make withholding adjustments to cover their tax liability still have time to avoid the extra burden.

“There’s less performance chasing than you saw in the past, and that’s a positive thing,” an expert says.

One option is to sell funds with lower or no estimated distributions, especially if possible savings will exceed trading costs.

Double-digit gains produced by the mutual funds and ETFs with the most AUM were not enough to best the broader market.

Waiting too long means clients will miss out on the opportunity to maximize the plan’s full tax benefits.

Those that shorted the market suffered “steep losses,” while market-neutral products posted “modest gains.”

Clients with children are advised to start saving early in a 529 plan to take advantage of the “tax-free or tax-deferred growth.”

With an average gain of nearly 40%, the following mutual funds and ETFs are narrowly invested in the most attractive segments of the market.

Funding a Roth account, for example, may not offer upfront tax deductions, but withdrawals are tax-free.

Despite their high fees and double-digit returns, nearly all have even outperformed themselves so far this year.

Payouts from pensions and tax-deferred accounts are usually not taxed in states without a state income tax or with levies only on interest and dividends.

The top 20 nearly doubled their gains over the last year, data show.