Happy New Year! Steven kicks off the year by sharing his takeaways from year-end tax planning meetings and giving important reminders you need to hear as we head into another tax filing season. It may feel like the calendar just turned over, so tax planning can go on holiday, but listen in as Steven explains what you should be focused on to help your clients navigate their tax filing and beyond. You may have gotten sick of hearing about O3BA this last year, but it hasn't gone away, so Steven also recaps some critical areas you need to keep in mind, as well as reviewing a new IRS form that covers several of the new provisions that came out of the new bill last year. And of course, he had to talk about Summit 2026, including a sneak preview of some of the incredible speakers we will be adding to our lineup this year.

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One of the most common questions Steven hears from financial advisors is "What software can I use to help with that?". In this week's episode, Steven is joined by Nitrogen's Chief Product Officer, Justin Boatman, to discuss the latest entry into the tax software category: Nitrogen's AI Tax Center. Justin shares the background of why Nitrogen picked taxes as the topic for their newest tool and shares how they have designed the tool to enhance the client experience, not simply do math. Steven and Justin discuss the importance of taxes in any financial planning conversation and the overlap of needing great operators regardless of how great a tool something is.

In this episode, Steven is joined by John Poole, a partner at JPTD and a seasoned veteran when it comes to helping financial advisors get their practices ready and navigate through equity events. John and Steven talk about common misconceptions advisors have about their own numbers and what really drives value in a business. John shares from his extensive experience with real practice transactions to help listeners understand the steps they can take and the areas they need to focus on to maximize their value, whether they are 2 months or 20 years from any kind of equity event. Every business will eventually transition in some way; the key is being intentional along the way.

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Steven is joined this week by Daniel Friedman, a financial advisor who has been leading with taxes for 3 decades. Daniel shares the origin and growth of WMGNA and how leading with taxes has made all the difference. Steven and Daniel discuss why taxes create such a powerful opportunity and why there is still so much room for advisors to get in on the action of providing tax planning for their clients. They also discuss why more and more clients are expecting taxes to be part of the conversation, whether advisors are ready for it or not.

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In this episode, Steven is answering advisor questions directly from the trenches. Twice a month, Steven hosts live office hours for the RTS community that are all about helping advisors cut through the noise and get to what they need to take action and serve clients. A 30-minute episode could never capture the full power of these live sessions, but this week, Steven has selected some of the more common topics to help our listeners get ready for year-end and get an idea of what their peers are asking. If you'd like to get your questions answered on a future office hour, check out our memberships at retirementtaxservices.com

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This week, Steven is joined by fellow CPAs Claire Gallant and Logan Holman to talk about the value of the "Simple" things in taxes. Claire and Logan are partners in a tax firm focused on what some may consider "simple" returns and share how they are still delivering massive value for the people they serve. The conversation also covers how to help clients identify when DIY is probably not going to cut it anymore and the value of the tax preparer/financial advisor collaboration. Listen to the end as Claire and Logan share the directory they have created of tax preparers who are actually taking on new clients and how you can take advantage of it.

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Steven is joined this week by Mike Bennet, an Estate Planning attorney and the co-founder of EncorEstate Plans. Mike shares his experience working alongside financial advisors to create quality outcomes for clients and why that ultimately led him to creating a software solution specifically to help financial advisors help more of their clients. Steven and Mike discuss the challenges of any future planning and specifically the areas that are most important to focus on when it comes to the two inevitables: death and taxes.

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Steven is joined once again this week by our good friends at Belay to share important tax information and give best practices for getting the whole team involved. Brooke Cecil, Belay's Vice President of Accounting Services, draws from her wealth of experience and knowledge to help listeners get ready for the new year without taking on more work themselves. Steven and Brooke give concrete action steps for helping you identify where there are opportunities to deliver more value on tax planning, AND how to know where you can delegate so you can still spend your time on the things only you can do. And rather than commit all the important dates to memory, Belay has kindly organized them all for you, and listeners can get a free copy by texting RTS to 55123.

This week, Steven is joined by a fellow CPA who specializes in tax planning for all things Real Estate, Ryan Carriere. Ryan shares his experience with going deep on the tax side when it comes to all the hype you see on social media and helps sort out what is real and what is wishful thinking. Like any other tax strategies, the taxes are just one consideration and not the driving force behind what does or doesn't make real estate a great idea for a particular client. Steven and Ryan discuss where value can come from and the traps to avoid when it comes to tax planning and preparation in this area.

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In this episode, Steven is joined by author and COO of Ritholz Wealth Management, Nick Maggiulli. In addition to sharing all about his new book, the Wealth Ladder, Nick dives into the details of how Ritholz added tax preparation 4 years ago and the journey they've been on since. Listen to the end as Nick and Steven share examples of how integrating tax services is about more than simply hiring or acquiring.

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