We’re still learning new stuff too

One of the “joys” of taxes is that there are always new things to learn. Sometimes, that’s because the rules change or new case law sets a precedence, or a client comes up with a situation that just makes you scratch your head and wonder what the heck they were thinking. But sometimes we learn new things just because the tax code is MASSIVE and no one knows all of it…yet. 🙂

And we know you’re still learning too. That might be the general “you” as opposed to the specific you depending on the topic, but we see the questions advisors ask, and perhaps more impactful, we see the questions consumers (aka clients of financial advisors). This time of year, heading into the tax filing season, we see even more of it, and too often, it comes in the form of consumers who weren’t properly educated on the tax impacts of the financial planning that their advisor helped them do throughout the year. Sometimes, it still all works out. Other times, the tax return gets done correctly but with unnecessary angst and bad-mouthing from the tax preparer. And sometimes, things get royally and completely screwed up in ways that could have easily been prevented by advisors understanding and communicating the tax impacts of their planning.

Now would be a good time to be asking yourself: “did I do enough to help my clients navigate the tax impacts of the work we did together?”

If you can’t confidently answer with a resounding “Hell yeah!” don’t worry, you aren’t alone. We would, however, strongly suggest you join us next week on February 12th at 11 am PST for a CE-eligible webinar: “Where Financial Planning Actually Hits the Tax Return”. This session is built on real-world experience and covers where the most common financial planning activities hit the tax return. You are creating hundreds of tax documents (1099s primarily) for clients each year; what are you doing to set your clients up for success when they receive them?

Can’t wait to see you next week.

Happy Tax Planning!

Steven Jarvis, CPA

P.S. We’ve talked about it being eligible for CFP CE, but what we didn’t know and just learned is that being CFP eligible means that it’s also eligible for ALL CE credits for designations offered through the American College of Financial Planning, including the ChFC, RICP, ChSNC, WMCP, and CLU.