When clients first meet their advisers, they have certain hopes. But sometimes, they leave feeling a bit let down because their financial advisers do not offer everything they expected. For example, 92% of clients hope to receive tax planning advice from their financial advisor, but only 25% receive it. The good news? Making clients happy might be easier than some advisors think! A recent webinar hosted by Nora Gallegos of PreciseFP and Torie Happe of Holistiplan showed how using a simple process with PreciseFP and Holistiplan can help advisers give clients the advice they really want about taxes and make everyone’s financial journey more enjoyable!
Creating, sending, and retrieving tax documents
Getting tax documents from clients does not have to be complicated. With PreciseFP, advisers can follow a simple three-step process to obtain tax information for advising:
- Create form
- Send to client
- Retrieve document
Creating a form is simple. With PreciseFP’s library of templates, it is easy for clients to securely upload information such as a 1040 form. Advisers can choose templates, add customisable details such as macros, include extra elements such as a text box for client questions, and match templates to their company’s branding.
Sending the form to clients is also easy. With the account information stored in PreciseFP, advisers can search for the accounts they want to target, click the 'engage' button, and choose which forms to send to clients. Advisers also can use customer relationship management software (CRMs) to conduct advanced searches for client segmentation.
After clients receive the form from their advisers, Precise FP makes it easy to track their activity and retrieve the document. When a client engages with a form, advisers will receive an email from PreciseFP informing them of new client activity. On the home page, advisers can see recent engagements, including any newly uploaded forms.
Tax reports, scenario analysis, and tax explainer
After advisers receive completed documents from their clients, Holistiplan uses that information to help clients understand their current tax situation and plan for the future.
After an adviser logs into Holistiplan, uploading a completed 1040 form and generating a report takes 45-60 seconds. Advisers inexperienced in offering tax planning services may wish to begin by making the Holistiplan tax report available to their clients. This tax report contains the following for the most recently uploaded 1040 form:
- Marginal tax bracket information
- Modified adjusted gross income tiers
- Schedule D
- MedicareBD premiums
- Schedule B income source (shows all accounts)
- Tax observations (which may include linked articles)
If advisers want to offer more planning services to their clients, scenario analysis can show clients tax implications that could result from various financial decisions. After an adviser chooses to create a new scenario, load a tax return, or copy from a scenario, the system can build up to 1,000 scenarios to help answer clients’ tax questions, from Roth conversions to creating a donor-advised fund.
Also included in the Holistiplan software is a feature called the Tax Explainer. This tool breaks down the client’s tax return, line by line, to explain deductions, AGI, taxable income, income tax, capital gains tax, self-employment taxes, and more in an easily accessible format.
Although many financial advisers are not accustomed to offering tax planning services, adding it to your offerings does not require a lot of time or resources. PreciseFP and Holistiplan’s workflow makes it easy to receive client documents and generate practical information your clients can use to understand their taxes and plan for the future.
Read the original article here.
