Sell fund shares before the distribution date. There may be a small advantage in selling before the distribution date. Sell profitable shares after the new year. If shares are sold in December, the tax will be due with that year’s return. By simply waiting until January to sell, the tax will be reported a year later. There’s usually no sense in paying taxes any earlier than we have to. Harvest tax losses. This is the practice of selling losing securities in taxable accounts for the purpose of obtaining tax losses to reduce current and future income taxes.
