With tax season well underway, you may be eager for strategies to reduce your 2024 taxes or boost your refund. However, there are limited options, especially for so-called “W-2 employees” who earn wages, experts say.

After Dec. 31, there are “very few” tax moves left for the previous year, according to Boston-area certified financial planner and enrolled agent Catherine Valega, founder of Green Bee Advisory.

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Once the calendar year ends, it’s too late to claim a tax break by boosting 401(k) plan deferrals, donating to charity or tax-loss harvesting.

But there are a few opportunities left before the April 15 tax deadline, experts say. Here are three options for taxpayers to consider. 

If you haven’t maxed out your health savings account for 2024, you have until April 15 to deposit money and score a tax break, experts say.

For 2024, the HSA contribution limit is $4,150 for individual coverage or $8,300 for family plans. However, you must have an eligible high-deductible health insurance plan to qualify for contributions.  

“The HSA is easy,” said CFP Thomas Scanlon at Raymond James in Manchester, Connecticut. “If you are eligible, fund it and take the deduction.” 

The April 15 deadline also applies to individual retirement account contributions for 2024. You can save up to $7,000, plus an extra $1,000 for investors age 50 and older.

You can claim a deduction for pre-tax IRA contributions, depending on your earnings and workplace retirement plan.

The strategy lowers your adjusted gross income for 2024, but the account is subject to regular income taxes and required withdrawals later, said CFP Andrew Herzog, associate wealth manager at The Watchman Group in Plano, Texas.

“A traditional IRA simply delays taxation,” he added.

If you’re a married couple filing jointly, there’s also a lesser-known option, known as a spousal IRA, which is a separate Roth or traditional IRA for nonworking spouses.  

Married couples can max out a pre-tax IRA for both spouses, assuming the working spouse has at least that much income. It’s possible to claim a deduction for both deposits.

But whether you’re making a single pre-tax IRA contribution or one for each spouse, it’s important to weigh long-term financial and tax planning goals, experts say.

The Trump administration has taken down the applications for popular student loan repayments plans from the U.S. Department of Education‘s website, leaving millions of borrowers with fewer options for now.

Borrowers are unable to access the applications for income-driven repayment plans, as well as the online application to consolidate their loans.

Both applications are critical for borrowers pursuing lower monthly payments and loan forgiveness through an IDR plan, as well as the related Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

The disruption is due to a recent decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked the Biden administration’s new IDR plan, known as SAVE, or Saving on a Valuable Education, as well as the loan forgiveness component under other IDR plans.

Congress created IDR plans in the 1990s to make borrowers’ bills more affordable. The plans cap borrower’s monthly payments at a share of their discretionary income, and cancel any remaining debt after a certain period, typically 20 years or 25 years.

More than 12 million people were enrolled in the plans as of September 2024, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

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Here’s what to know about the changes.

Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit, also didn’t expect a long wait time before the applications return.

“I get the sense the ED is working hard to get the changes made,” Mayotte said.

Borrowers who are due to recertify their IDR plans will also have to sit tight for the time being, Mayotte said. (Those enrolled in IDR plans typically have to submit their income information annually.)

While the legal challenges against SAVE were playing out, the Biden administration put enrollees into an interest-free forbearance. That payment pause is likely to end soon, experts said. By then, borrowers should be able to access other IDR plans, though.

Those who graduate in the spring are typically entitled to a six-month grace period before their first bill is due, Kantrowitz pointed out.

As a result, they won’t need to sign up for a repayment plan until Novemember or December. The plans should be available again by then.

As the IRS faces cutbacks, some taxpayers are weighing whether to file returns this season.

But skipping your federal filing can be costly, experts say.

Josh Youngblood, an enrolled agent and owner of The Youngblood Group, a Dallas-based tax firm, said he’s had a few clients ask whether they need to file this year.

“I’m concerned we’re going to see more of this” amid IRS layoffs and calls to eliminate the agency, he said.

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Last week, the IRS faced mass layoffs as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, continued to seek federal spending cuts. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News that President Donald Trump wants to “abolish” the agency and replace it with tariffs.     

The uncertainty could contribute to taxpayers’ filing delays.

As of Feb. 14, the IRS received about 5% fewer individual returns compared to about the same point last season, according to the agency’s latest filing statistics.   

In some cases, they may think “[the IRS is] never going to find me” or “they’re frightened and overwhelmed by the prospect of owing money,” he said.

Another category of non-filers or filers who deliberately underpay, known as “tax protestors,” argue federal taxes are unconstitutional or don’t apply to them, said certified public accountant Mark Kohler.

“There’s this whole laundry list of weird arguments that never work,” he said.

Tax protestors issues can lead to tax court and penalties can be hefty, experts say.

If you file a return without enough information to calculate the correct tax liability, you could be subject to a $5,000 civil penalty for filing a “frivolous tax return,” according to the Internal Revenue Code.  

“Like moths to a flame, some people find themselves irresistibly drawn to the tax protester movement’s illusory claim that there is no legal requirement to pay federal income tax. And, like moths, these people sometimes get burned,” a circuit judge wrote in United States v. Sloan.

The “failure to file” penalty is 5% of your taxes owed per month or partial month the filing is late, capped at 25%, according to the IRS.

That’s “ten times worse” than the “failure to pay” penalty, which is levied at 0.5% of your tax balance per month or partial month, also limited to 25%, Nassau explained.  

If you owe taxes, it’s cheaper to file your return on time, or file an extension, and work out a payment plan with the IRS, he said.