How to turn tax law changes into advisory opportunities

By the time July 4, 2025 came around, the One, Big Beautiful Bill had passed. And you know exactly what happened next.

The questions started coming in before we even had complete guidance. Clients forwarding social media clips. Promised refunds. Excited texts. “I heard I don’t have to pay taxes on my Social Security benefits anymore” and “Does the overtime exclusion apply to me?”

Somewhere in the middle of all of that, we were trying to figure out the same thing ourselves.

Is the client’s overtime qualified overtime? Do we ask for the last pay stub? What about tips; did the self-employed client have those reported through a 1099-K, or were they collected through Zelle where no form exists at all? These were not simple questions, and the clients who were asking were not waiting for tax season to find out the answers.

That is what major tax legislation does. It puts us in reactive mode at exactly the wrong time. The law changes more than we would like, but here is what I have learned.

Every time the law changes, it creates an opening.

Not a conversation to have in February when the W-2s are coming in and the phone will not stop ringing. The real conversations, the valuable ones, happen during the year. When we have time to look at income, project what is coming, and actually strategize. That is when advisory earns its name.

So where do the opportunities lie?

Think about your client list for a moment. You probably have more segments in there than you realize.

• You have the working parent with kids in daycare. Have you asked whether their employer offers a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account? Starting in 2026, the limit increases to $7,500 and the Child and Dependent Care Credit rate increases to 50%. Two benefits, same family, and most clients do not know either one changed. Someone has to tell them before open enrollment closes. That someone should be you.
• You have the sole proprietor with kids at home. Have you asked whether those kids help with the business? A child employed in the family business can earn wages that shift income out of the top of the return, and if that child is under 18, there is no FICA. Under 21, no FUTA. That is not a new strategy; it is a missed conversation.
• You have a client whose spouse helps out informally. Officially bringing that spouse into the business opens doors through retirement contributions and health reimbursement arrangements.  Tax opportunities that do not exist when the spouse stays off the books.

These are not out-of-reach strategies. They are not complicated. They are simply conversations that never happened because tax season got in the way.

That is what my session at Elevate 2026 is about. I want to show you how to take the noise of tax law changes—the headlines, the social media clips, and the client questions that come in at all hours—and turn that noise into a structured advisory conversation. One that happens during the year, when you can actually do something with it. One that groups your clients by planning need and matches the right strategy to the right situation.

We will walk through the compliance-to-advisory mindset shift together. We will talk about what the return shows you and what it cannot. We will build a framework you can take back to your practice the same week.

Because the law is going to keep changing. That is not going away.

The question is whether you are the one calling your client or the one returning their call after they saw a video that told them they were getting a refund they do not qualify for.

Come to Elevate 2026. Let’s change that together.