Page 20 - Investment Advisor April 2021

TAX TIME

By Jeff Berman

The Do’s and Don’ts of Partnering With CPAs

Ed Slott, Jeffrey Levine and other CPAs and advisors give advice for making
this critical relationship work.

t has always made sense for
financial advisors to partner with
Icertified public accountants to
help clients.
But with the COVID-19 pandemic,
the tax implications of relief pack-
ages and potential tax changes with
the new presidential administration, it
makes more sense than ever for advi-
sors and CPAs to team up, according to
experts in both fields interviewed by
Investment Advisor.
They also provided some critical
do’s and don’ts for advisors working
with CPAs.

WHY CPAs AND FAs SHOULD BE
PARTNERS
“The pandemic has led to unique plan-
ning opportunities that have both tax
and financial planning applications,”
according to Jeffrey Levine, chief plan-
ning officer at Buckingham Wealth
Partners and a CPA. One example is “Right now, I would bring in attor- “You need to communicate to take
the waiver of required minimum dis- neys, too,” to talk about estate planning advantage of opportunities like this.”
tributions in 2020 and the ability for with advisory clients, Slott said, noting
individuals to roll back distributions the increased demand for estate plan- OTHER GOOD REASONS TO TEAM UP
previously taken to satisfy that require- ning due to the pandemic. “If advisors are looking to grow their
ment, he noted. Recent legislation “added new practice and move up market and
“Everyone is overwhelmed and opportunities that will only be avail- work with higher-net-worth and more
stressed,” Levine said. “And those two able for a few years,” noted David complex clients, in our opinion, there’s
things make it more likely for mistakes Stolz, chair of the American Institute no better way to do that than with part-
to occur. Working together, as a team, of CPAs’ Personal Financial Specialist nering with a CPA because the CPA has
collectively for a client’s benefit, makes it Credential Committee. access to those clients,” according to
less likely that such mistakes will occur.” For example, it is now possible to Andree Peterson, chief implementation
While advisors should strive to make a deductible charitable contribu- officer at the financial planning firm
become educated on tax issues, they tion for up to 100% of adjusted gross Integrated Partners.
don’t always know as much about tax income, Stolz said. “Maybe the advi- Meanwhile, “from a CPA perspective,
law as a good accountant. Conversely, sor would like to suggest a large Roth especially with what happened last year,
“CPAs tend to be history teachers: We conversion, and the CPA could suggest everybody’s looking for advice and CPAs oatawa/stock.adobe.com
tell you what already happened on a tax a large charitable contribution from are starting to recognize that they need
return,” Ed Slott, CEO and founder of other funds to offset some of all of the to offer more advice and services within
Ed Slott and Co. and a CPA, pointed out. income from the conversion,” he noted. their practice,” she noted.

18 INVESTMENT ADVISOR APRIL 2021 | ThinkAdvisor.com