Covisum Blog

Addressing Tax Legislation in Your Financial Planning Seminars Significant changes brought on by the fairly recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) have created some fantastic opportunities for strategic advisors. Offering a “taxes in retirement” seminar at your local library or community college, allows you to educate the public about the changes and gain some potential clients. However, the legislation is extensive and you don’t want seminar attendees to lose interest by diving into all of the details. Here are five topics that you need to address in your taxes in retirement seminar.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act represents a relatively significant tax cut for most middle-income retirees, but the bill did nothing to change the interactions between different income sources in retirement, which means that retirees will need to pay close attention to which accounts they withdraw from at which points in time.

Now is the time to build relationships with CPAs At this point, it seems safe to expect some form of tax reform will pass in the next several months. The House has already passed H.R. 1, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” which includes a variety of changes to the personal income tax system and significant changes to corporate taxation. The Senate has released its proposal, which doesn’t reduce the number of brackets, but does smooth the progression with level steps between each new proposed bracket. Both bills increase standard deductions, eliminate some itemized deductions, eliminate personal exemptions, and provide some sort of child/dependent tax credit. Regardless of the compromises that emerge through the political process, it is clear that there will be a need for members of the general public to understand the changes and how those changes impact their personal situations. Financial advisors will be faced with a choice – either take proactive steps to first become educated on the new laws, and then identify specific opportunities for their clients, or risk losing clients to other proactive advisors who choose the first path.