Debbie Taylor, Recently appointed Chief Tax Chief at Carson GroupIt has seen the benefit of providing tax strategy and services at its firm of property management for more than two decades.
Her ability to overlap tax expertise with asset planning has often helped her earn customers when competing against registered investment advisers greater than Franklin Lakes, a firm based on one.
“It enabled me for many years as a woman in the industry to differentiate and grow my firm,” Taylor said.
Taylor said her interest in tax planning began at the age of 10 when she was accompanying her CPA father to work. Now, Taylor, a CPA itself, has been tapped to work with Ceo of Carson Burson White to make tax strategy and planning a crucial part of customer services across Carson's advisers network.
Since the November announcement, the Taylor team has offered councilor colleagues a 12-month calendar of tax touch points for clients, presented at a meeting at the Firm of Omaha, Neb., And set up monthly training sessions and hours in weekly offices.
“We strongly believe that administration of wealth requires a three -lane focus,” she said. “Investment management – which we know is a table shares – and then strong financial planning. But third is tax planning, which includes areas such as family planning, distribution planning and inheritance planning.”
Different models
Following tax services along with asset management has been a Growing trend in recent yearsBut the models and approaches so far are different.
Over half (51%) of councilors take the least complex way of using tax planning software as part of their practice, an increase of 10.7% over the last two years, according to Annual survey of the annual T3 technology advisor 2025. The highest ranking firms for such tax services through the T3 survey were Holistiplan, FP Alpha, Intuit Proconnect and Drake Tax Planning. However, the tendency towards the use of tax software and financial planners is not being directed only by sellers; In 2023, Cetera got Avantax private tax -centered firm on a $ 1.2 billion purchasegiving its network of councilors access to the firm's services.
Meanwhile, advances in artificial intelligence are likely to further direct software skills. Tuesday, taxes, assets and insurance platform FP Alpha announced a well -known tax offering by him for financial advisers. The NextGen Tax Overview will give advisers “High -level, active tax knowledge for each client, offering greater value than ever before, including adapted and more personalized strategies for tax savings opportunities”, according to the announcement.
Other rias are looking to bring home tax specialty to combine with technology. In February, Mesirrow's property management hired an advisor and tax specialist Gary Pattengale in a newly created role to provide tax services in his network of councilors. In January, the Financial Group Sequoia Carlson capital management wonA $ 3.8 billion firm that brought with it an internal tax planning specialty and preparation services. Last November, ria Allworth Financial won CCA LLPA tax -focused CPA firm to strengthen its home tax skills.
Meanwhile, other types of partnership models are emerging. Merchant investment, an investment firm that provides growth capital and other support for Rias, received a minority of stock in the second CPA of full service In February, Venning advisers, who has 15 offices around the United States.
More services
Matthew Carter of the M&A advisory firm Turkey Hill said the latest tax movements and other services are partially derived from the drum of fee compression concerns over the last decade.
“Asset management firms throughout the industry have felt the need to provide more services to their clients in addition to managing their assets, and two of the most popular services related to wealth are taxes and Administration of trust and assets“Said Carter.
Carter said the addition of tax services, regardless of their form, can help with client climbing, organic growth and recruiting Rias seeking such additions. The former adviser returned to the M&A specialist said he recalls that he was frustrated by not having a tax practice to help the customer's needs.
“If you don't have it inside, you are trying to track CPAs, leave messages and it can lead you to keep trade or reprint a portfolio,” he said. “If you have a team member available to answer questions or counseling, it's much more efficient.”
One challenge to bring a home tax strategy is that many customer reference programs for property managers are executed through CPAs. If councilors are serving customers at home, some of those reference channels can corrode. However, Carter said he has a way out and “provides for agreements involving tax services to continue in a number of different areas, including more purchases”.
Brian Price, CEO of Ria Mesird, said the need to increase the firm's advisor base to strengthen its tax expertise across its national network led to Employment of Pattengale Tax Specialist.
“Taxes have become a larger and greater proportion of investment decisions and the financial planning aspect of our work for clients,” Price said. “Having that ability to include advanced tax strategies and working with customers was a skill we found very attractive.”
At the price, Mesirrow advisers are looking at the customer tax needs ranging from receiving pension revenue to restructuring of assets to administering a new retirement move.
Thanks to the advances in technology and it, the actual preparation and filing of tax forms is much faster and simpler, Pattengale said. However, when it comes to investment management and financial planning, things can be complicated and result in some “bad surprises” when the tax collector comes.
“Hard hard to manage for a counselor, especially if you are a smaller firm wearing many different hats,” he said. “Having the right tools and resources, knowing how to interpret the data and how they apply to clients everyone enters the game.”
Growing need
Earle Pratt, the President of CPA Venning with full services, said the connection with the RIA RIA network RIA will lead to businesses that serve those councilors who run small businesses-and partnerships with them for their client's work.
“We saw a real need for this from wealth managers about five years ago,” Pratt said. “They were looking for a more holistic and systematic approach that included accounting, taxes and other financial ones.”
Although Venning is a third party partner, Pratt said the tightness of the relationship with the property manager is important.
“We are meeting with the property management partner in front of the client to strategy together,” he said. “Then we often join the client calls two to three times a year. It is much easier when we know each other and the customers they are working with.”
Taylor of Carson said it is becoming essential for financial planners and tax preparers to be in concert, in part because more people are retired with large tax -protected pension accounts.
“There are so many transactions during the year for a client, and if there is no tax discussion, there is only this extraordinary emptiness that is not filled,” she said.