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Since it’s nearly December, let’s review a few year-end planning ideas, with more to come next week.

First, let’s talk about tax refunds.

Before 401(k) plans, people would think nothing of claiming zero-withholding allowances on their W-4 forms so that they would receive a tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service — in time to pay those credit card bills that arrived in the mail after the holidays.

If that’s you, no problem, unless you can’t afford to participate in your 401(k) or other retirement plan at work.

You may not realize getting a tax refund means losing money, especially if you have a 401(k) with a match.

Let me explain. Let’s talk about matches.

Say you are making $50,000 a year. If your company match is dollar-for-dollar as much as 6 percent of compensation, you are losing money if you are not getting every penny of the $3,000, 6 percent of $50,000 match that your employer wants you to have.

If the match is 50 cents on the dollar and you are seeing less than $1,500, you are losing money.

It’s never a good idea to leave money on the table — more so in times of economic distress when every penny in your pocket counts.

So, what do you do if you are in this situation?

Instead of using your tax refund to pay for gifts, use it to boost your retirement savings, and to earn extra money by maximizing your match — and here is the important point — you may be able to do all of this without lowering your take home pay.

Here is the concept: When you filed your W-4 with your employer, you claimed a certain number of withholding allowances, which determine how much is taken out of your paycheck for taxes. If more is taken out than is needed to cover your tax bill, the IRS returns the excess to you as a tax refund.

It’s a fool’s game to manage your finances this way. First, you’re giving the IRS free use of your money for as long as a year. Second, because more is coming out of your paycheck than needed to cover taxes, your paycheck is lower than it should be. That causes you to believe you don’t have enough money to save for your retirement through your 401(k). Third, if you’re like most people, you spend the refund. Instead, you could be funding your retirement plan with that money and claiming your 401(k) match.

You can use that extra money you are giving the IRS to fund your 401(k). Here’s how.

Go to your payroll administrator or human resources department. Ask for help with your W-4 withholding allowances. You’ll want to increase your allowances so that you are no longer getting a tax refund. Instead, you’ll want to use that money, and possibly more, to increase your 401(k) contributions.

Do some what-if calculations together.

Assume you have zero-withholding allowances and are making no 401(k) salary deferrals. Now assume that you make 6 percent salary deferrals. How does that affect your take home pay, your 401(k) contribution and your match.

Now assume two withholding allowances and a 6 percent salary deferral, and compare the results. Then, try a few other scenarios. You get the idea.

What you’re looking for is the ideal W-4 withholding and salary deferral balance — deferring enough salary to take full advantage of your company match while preserving as much of your take home pay as possible.

If you would like to see a detailed example of how withholding allowances and salary deferrals work together, take a look at page 212 of my last book, The AARP Retirement Survival Guide: How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times and Bad, which you can find at the library.

That’s planning for the future. You also may be able to increase your W-4 withholding for your remaining pay periods for this year. Be sure to check.

Here is another planning idea.

If you reacted to the market meltdown by stopping or decreasing your 401(k) contributions and you recognize that was a mistake, which it always is, especially if your plan offers a match, now is the time to set things straight.

With only a month left in the year, you’ll have to act quickly to make sure you don’t lose 2009 benefits.

Contact your plan administrator first thing Monday to get information about your plan. Some plans are more flexible than others when it comes to special contributions and enrollment periods.

You’ll want to review your situation with the administrator and consider your options. In the best case, you will be able to arrange salary deferrals starting now to the end of the year that not only bring you up to the maximum you can contribute for 2009, but also earn you the maximum match. Ideally, your payroll administrator will be able to help you re-adjust your W-4 withholding allowances for 2009 so that your paycheck doesn’t drop dramatically because of the deferrals.

If you do increase your W-4 allowances, don’t forget to reassess them in the beginning of the New Year.

Some plans allow for special contributions — for example, you can contribute 100 percent of your bonus; others limit contributions to a set percentage of your paycheck. In either case, you can work with the administrator to come up with a solution that works for you.

Next week, we’ll go through some more year-end planning issues.