5 Handy (and Timely) Hacks for Charles Schwab Account Holders

John Robinson |
Categories
Tax Planning
IRAs and Qualified Retirement Plans
RMDs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schwab 2024 Tax Documents Availability Calendar – This document shows the expected delivery date for client tax documents, including consolidated 1999s for taxable accounts and 1099-Rs for retirement accounts with taxable distributions.  NOTE: The fastest, easiest way to obtain your tax documents is to log into your account through the SchwabAlliance.com website.

 

 

Charles Schwab Treasury Money Fund Annual Distribution Summary – We have more than $60 million in client assets in Charles Schwab US Treasury Money Fund regular and Ultra class shares (Symbols SNSXX and SUTXX). Because these funds invest almost exclusively in U.S. Treasury securities, the interest paid on these bonds is exempt from state income tax.  This is inconsequential if you live in states such as WA, TX, NH, or FL that have no state income tax, but it can offer significant savings to taxpayers residing in states with high state income tax rates such as CA, HI, NY, NJ,  OR, CT, MA, and RI.  However, the amount of state tax-exempt interest paid on treasury money funds is not reported on your 1099s.  To realize these tax savings, you need to give this distribution report to your tax preparer.

 

 

Link to Schwab Required Minimum Distribution Calculator – While we provide the RMD calculations for Financial Planning Hawaii clients with IRAs and/or qualified retirement accounts (and inherited IRAs), this calculator is handy for clients who may wish to check our math or have retirement accounts at other institutions.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Link to Schwab 2025 Tax Reference Guide  – This two-page cheat sheet provides the 2025 federal income tax brackets, long-term capital gains and dividends tax rates, Net Invest Income Tax(NIIT)  limits, the IRS standard deduction amounts, other key deductions that do not require itemization, trust and estate tax rates, gift and estate tax exclusion limits, and IRA and qualified plan contribution limits. I included this link in the December issue of our newsletter, but it is worth sharing again.

 

 

Income and Performance Reports – Although Schwab has traditionally only made estimated portfolio income and performance reporting available to its retail clients and Schwab in-house investment advisers, I recently learned that this functionality is now available upon request to clients of independent registered investment advisers (RIAs).  I requested this for ALL FPH clients, and you can now view this data when you log in. 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the functionality of the Investment Income Report is limited because it only provides the monthly income at the portfolio level rather than at the account level.  See below.

 

 

 

As presented below, Schwab's portfolio performance reporting is fairly robust, but it only goes back to the date of completion of the Schwab's integration of TD Ameritrade in September 2023.

 

 

 

John H. Robinson is the owner/founder of Financial Planning Hawaii and Fee-Only Planning Hawaii. He is also a co-founder of fintech software maker Nest Egg Guru and the new personal finance website NestEggPF.com.