If you’re wondering whether your financial advisor can work with your CPA to make smarter, real-time tax decisions, the answer is yes. Not only is this possible, but in today’s environment, it’s essential.

Coordinated tax and investment planning used to be rare. Financial advisors managed portfolios, and CPAs filed returns. Their work intersected once a year, if at all. That model no longer works. The stakes are too high, the rules are too complex, and the potential value of proactive coordination is too significant to ignore.

What real-time coordination looks like

Proper integration means your advisor isn’t just managing assets. They track gains, monitor income trends, and flag tax opportunities before the window closes. Your CPA isn’t just filing returns. They’re feeding the advisor updated income data and modeling the tax impact of potential investment moves.

This collaboration can lead to:

• Harvesting capital losses or gains when it matters most
• Timing Roth conversions based on projected marginal brackets
• Managing charitable giving and estimated payments dynamically
• Structuring retirement plan contributions in tandem with portfolio moves

These aren’t once-a-year decisions. They’re real-time opportunities.

The OBBBA raises the stakes

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, preserved many tax cuts originally set to expire at the end of 2025. It made the 20 percent pass-through deduction under Section 199A permanent for qualified business income. It retained the individual income tax brackets introduced under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), including the top rate of 37 percent.

It increased the basic exclusion amount for the federal estate and gift tax to $15 million per person starting in 2026, indexed for inflation from a base year of 2025.

What the OBBBA didn’t do is just as important. It didn’t raise long-term capital gains rates. It didn’t alter the thresholds or rates for the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT). That clarifies planning for now, but highlights the need for ongoing monitoring. If your advisor and CPA are not working together, you could miss narrow timing windows or legislative shifts that make or break your strategy.

Your advisor’s role in tax-smart decisions

Financial advisors evaluate the tax implications of every portfolio move. If they’re selling a security with embedded gains, rebalancing across accounts, or recommending a Roth conversion, they should be factoring in your marginal tax bracket, investment holding period, and loss carryforwards.

When they work directly with your CPA, that information becomes actionable. For example:

• If your CPA sees your business income trending higher this year, your advisor can delay selling a security with a significant gain.
• If your advisor sees an opportunity to harvest losses, your CPA can project whether it will offset ordinary income or future gains.
• If you plan a significant charitable gift, your advisor can recommend funding it with appreciated securities while your CPA confirms deduction limits.

The result isn’t just tax efficiency. It’s a tax strategy.

Better technology makes coordination easier

Logistics used to limit real-time collaboration. Today, it’s simpler. Secure portals, cloud-based planning tools, and collaborative dashboards allow your professionals to share documents, discuss strategies, and sync timelines.

With your authorization, your advisor can grant your CPA access to year-end gain/loss reports, current income projections, and retirement distribution plans. Your CPA can upload draft returns, depreciation schedules, and cash flow summaries.

This integration makes taking action in real time rather than after the fact possible.

Estate and business planning

The OBBBA’s estate tax expansion means higher-net-worth families now face less pressure to gift assets before a sunset deadline. However, this generous exemption may not last beyond the next political cycle. Your advisor, CPA, and estate attorney must work together.

They can help you determine whether to:

• Use a portion of your expanded lifetime exemption now.
• Set up or fund a dynasty trust.
• Leverage qualified small business stock (QSBS) exclusions, which the OBBBA expanded by increasing the gain exclusion cap and clarifying eligibility rules.

For business owners, the permanent extension of the Section 199A deduction means pass-through entity tax planning remains a core strategy.

However, maximizing this deduction requires careful coordination of income levels, entity structure, and retirement plan design, work that no single professional can handle alone.

How to evaluate your team

You may need to initiate the process if your advisor and CPA are not currently in communication. Start by asking your financial advisor:

• Do you monitor client tax exposure throughout the year?
• Can you coordinate directly with my CPA on tax-aware investment decisions?
• Are you familiar with how the OBBBA has changed the planning landscape?

Ask your CPA:

• Can you meet with my advisor periodically to align on projections?
• Are you comfortable securely sharing income trends, deductions, and other planning data?

If either professional hesitates, it may be time to evaluate whether you’re working with the right team.

Final thought

The tax landscape is shifting, and the OBBBA has created both stability and complexity. The best way to respond is with a team that’s already aligned.

When your financial advisor and CPA collaborate in real time, you don’t just react to tax rules. You use them to your advantage.

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