This week, Mom and I tackled some paperwork—she needs her own library card and transit card—to pretty much make it official that she’s going to stay with me in Pennsylvania. It’s a big change for her, since she’s lived in North Carolina for her entire life.

That places me solidly in the “sandwich generation” since I also have two kids still at home. My husband is in a similar position, having recently moved his mom into an assisted living facility a few minutes away. The reality is that our phones never stop ringing and we are almost always driving someone somewhere or picking something up.

We’re not complaining. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have the privilege of having my mom and my mother-in-law nearby. But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy. And I also realize that we’re not special. Millions of Americans are facing the demands of supporting both children and aging parents, often at the expense of savings, careers, and long-term plans.

It’s not just anecdotal. A new Care.com report found that most sandwich generation caregivers feel financially strained, and many have passed up promotions or considered leaving the workforce. That shouldn't come as a surprise since caregivers spend nearly 24 hours each week coordinating or providing care.

Fortunately, tax relief may be available when an aging parent qualifies as a dependent, including the Credit for Other Dependents (COD). The maximum COD credit is only $500 which hardly makes a dent when compared to the real cost of care. The survey also found that 84% of sandwich caregivers believed understanding more about the costs would have helped them when they first took on their responsibilities. One obvious lesson is that planning matters. So, my advice is to start now.

Sorting out saving for children at the same time can be tricky—even more so for those who live abroad. I reported earlier that the IRS had issued guidance that many individual donors will not have to file gift tax returns merely because they contribute to section 530A accounts (commonly referred to as Trump accounts). But it turns out that for Americans living abroad, the biggest obstacle may be access rather than tax treatment. Those accounts must be opened with approved U.S. custodians, and many U.S. financial institutions will not open accounts for customers without a U.S. residential address, potentially leaving some expatriate families unable to participate even when the child is otherwise eligible or a foreign employer wants to contribute. Again, the theme is to start planning now—that includes having conversations with your tax and financial advisors.

Of course, as new tax provisions pop up, it creates new work for the IRS. Andrew Leahy writes that the debate over IRS funding is often framed as a debate over government spending, but it's really about whether Congress intends the tax laws it writes to be enforced. Cutting IRS funding doesn't repeal tax provisions or reduce what taxpayers legally owe, it simply makes those rules harder to administer and enforce, particularly for the most complex returns. The result is one tax system for taxpayers whose income is easily verified through reporting and withholding, and another for those whose sophisticated financial arrangements require the expertise and resources that only a properly funded IRS can provide.

States are also wrestling with tax policy. One state that’s considering a new tax law is California. Golden........

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