What is 'tax bracket management through income timing' and which is an example of a common technique?

Tax bracket management involves proactively controlling the timing of income recognition and deductions to keep taxable income within the most favorable brackets. For example, someone who retires early and has lower income before Social Security and RMDs begin might do Roth conversions to fill up the 12% or 22% bracket, preventing larger forced distributions later that would be taxed at 24% or higher. Similarly, a business owner might accelerate deductible expenses into a high-income year or defer invoicing a client until January to push income into the next tax year.