The final quarter of the year is when tax planning shifts from theory to deadline. Most strategies that can lower your 2026 tax bill have to be completed by Dec. 31, and many work best when they’re done far before the holiday rush. This year offers a few unusual opportunities thanks to a volatile market that produced big winners and losers, and because new rules from last year’s tax legislation take effect for the first time in 2026.

Here are five moves worth considering now.

The first is harvesting losses, and this year there may be more of them than you expect. The bond market selloff has pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to its highest level since 2002, which means many bonds and bond funds purchased in recent years are sitting on meaningful losses.

Gold has fallen more than 25% from its spring peak, so investors who bought near the top may also have losses to capture. Selling those positions lets you use the losses to offset realized gains elsewhere in your portfolio, and up to $3,000 of excess losses can offset ordinary income each year, with the remainder carried forward indefinitely.

The key rule to respect is the wash-sale rule: If you buy a substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale, the loss is disallowed. The........

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