If you have a traditional IRA, you might benefit from converting all or a portion of it to a Roth IRA. A conversion can allow you to turn tax-deferred future growth into tax-free growth. It also can provide estate planning advantages: Roth IRAs don’t require you to take distributions during your life, so you can let the entire balance grow tax-free over your lifetime for the benefit of your heirs.

The downside of a conversion is that the converted amount is taxable in the year of the conversion. But there are a couple of reasons why 2012 may be the right year to make the conversion and take the tax hit:

1. Saving income taxes. Federal income tax rates are scheduled to increase for 2013 and beyond unless Congress extends current rates or passes other rate changes. So if you convert before year end, you’re assured of paying today’s relatively low rates on the conversion. In addition, you’ll avoid the risk of higher future tax rates on all postconversion growth in your new Roth account, because qualified Roth IRA withdrawals are income-tax-free.

2. Saving Medicare taxes. If you convert in 2012, you don’t have to worry about the extra income from a future conversion causing you to be hit with the new 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income, which is scheduled to take effect in 2013 under the health care act. While the income from a 2013 (or later) conversion wouldn’t be subject to the tax, it would raise your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), which could cause some or all of your investment income in the year of conversion to be hit with the Medicare tax.

Likewise, you won’t have to worry about future qualified Roth IRA distributions increasing your MAGI to the extent that it would trigger or increase Medicare tax on your investment income, because such distributions aren’t included in MAGI. While traditional IRA distributions won’t be subject to the Medicare tax, they will be included in MAGI and thus could trigger or increase the Medicare tax on investment income.

Many businesses may benefit from purchasing assets by Dec. 31 to take advantage of depreciation-related deductions that are scheduled to either disappear or become less favorable in 2013:

Bonus depreciation. For qualified assets acquired and placed in service through Dec. 31, 2012, this additional first-year depreciation allowance is, generally, 50%. Among the assets that qualify are new tangible property with a recovery period of 20 years or less and off-the-shelf computer software. With a few exceptions, bonus depreciation is scheduled to disappear in 2013.

Section 179 expensing. This election allows a 100% deduction for the cost of acquiring qualified assets, and it’s subject to different rules than bonus depreciation. On the plus side, used assets can qualify for Sec. 179 expensing. On the minus side, a couple of rules may make Sec. 179 expensing less beneficial to certain businesses:

• For 2012, expensing is subject to an annual limit of $139,000, and this limit is phased out dollar for dollar if purchases exceed $560,000 for the year. So larger businesses may not benefit.

• The election can’t reduce net income below zero. So for businesses that are having a bad year, it can’t be used to create or increase a net operating loss for tax purposes.

The expensing and asset purchase limits are scheduled to drop to $25,000 and $200,000, respectively, in 2013.

These depreciation opportunities, however, bring with them a challenge: Determining whether the larger 2012 deductions will prove beneficial over the long term. Taking these deductions now means forgoing deductions that could otherwise be taken later, over a period of years under normal depreciation schedules.

In some situations, future deductions could be more valuable. For example, tax rates for individuals are scheduled to go up in 2013, which means flow-through entities, such as partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations, might save more by deferring the deductions.

Finally, keep an eye on Congress: It’s possible the current versions of these breaks could be extended or even enhanced.