Covisum Blog

The U.S. tax landscape is changing. Last week, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed into law. It is clear that there is a need for members of the general public to understand the changes and how those changes impact their personal situations. Financial advisors are 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. Join Joe Elsasser, CFP® and president of Covisum as he discusses the hot topic of taxes and retirement for the Society of Financial Service Professionals on January 24 at 11 a.m. Central.

Advisors can now answer clients' biggest question in the New Year: "How will the new tax law affect me?" Advisors and financial institutions rely on us to help them guide their clients to make the best financial decisions. Advisors who are struggling to quantify all the implications of the new 500-page Tax Cuts and Jobs Act can gain insight into unseen opportunity to add dollars to a retirement plan with the newly updated Tax Clarity tool. Advisors can now confidently perform tax simulations for 2017 and 2018, showing their clients reports with dollar comparison estimates based on various tax strategies and scenario planning.

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.

Social Security Timing® subscribers have helped clients save for retirement and have given them coaching on when to start taking Social Security benefits. But do you understand the impact of other income on the taxability of Social Security benefits? Understanding how different sources of income interact is critical, according to Greg Geisler in the September, 2017 Journal of Financial Services Professionals. Because of how Social Security benefits are taxed relative to other income, it can have major impacts on your client’s effective marginal tax rate.