Mike MilliganFounder and CEO, 1.oak Financial · Founder and CEO, 1.oak Financial

Last‑Minute Tax Tips 2026: Are You Just Filing…Or Actually Reducing Your Taxes?

20 Apr 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

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In this YouTube video, tax strategist Mike Milligan explains why the tax‑deadline period feels unusually emotional for many taxpayers. He notes that the act of actually sending a check, wire, or ACH payment to the IRS makes the tax liability tangible, turning a abstract number on a statement into a real reduction in cash flow from checking or investment accounts. This visceral experience often sparks a desire to improve tax outcomes for the following year. Milligan leverages that moment of heightened awareness to urge viewers to act now—despite the deadline having just passed—by scheduling a tax‑planning consultation, emphasizing that there are still roughly eight months left in the calendar year to implement a comprehensive tax strategy that can lower future liabilities rather than merely filing on time.

Chapters

Why is the deadline more emotional than people realize? Mike, why do you think this is?
Well, it's, you know, right, people over the last week have written checks or sent wires or ACH to the IRS, and that makes it, that makes it real. So it's one thing to see the number on a statement, but it's another to feel the impact coming out of your checking account or out of your investment account in the form of your cash flow being reduced. That moment often triggers a desire to do better next year. But that time is now. So having just maybe sent that check to the IRS, now's the time to schedule a tax planning consultation because we still have 8 months left in the year to be able to execute a real tax plan.