In his November 2017 column about yearend tax-planning strategies, Dan Gordon summed up tax planning in four words: “Postpone income; accelerate deductions.”

Here are his suggestions to do just that.

Strategies to postpone income include:

• Pushing a large job from this year to next, if there is flexibility with the customer;
• Pushing the sale of a gain-generating asset into the next year; or
• Using the like-kind exchange provisions (Section 1031) to defer recognizing gain on dispositions of business or investment property.

Strategies to accelerate deductions include:

• Making fourth-quarter state estimated tax payments in the current year;
• Prepaying property taxes due the following year;
• For cash basis taxpayers, prepaying certain expenses; and
• Making contributions to retirement plans.