If you’ve ever ended tax season feeling like your accountant and your financial advisor were operating in separate worlds, you’re not alone. While tax preparation — scrambling to gather documents, handing them to a tax professional, and hoping for the best — typically happens once a year, that approach may be leaving value on the table.
At Mercer Advisors, we believe taxes and wealth management work best when they’re managed together by a unified team. Our tax professionals work alongside your wealth advisor throughout the year, not just at filing time.
The result is a more coordinated and proactive financial picture where your investment decisions, income planning, and tax strategy all work together rather than in isolation.
What tax planning actually means
Tax filing and tax planning involve an important distinction — and it matters more than most people realize.
Tax filing is reactive. It’s the process of reporting what happened last year and submitting your return. Tax planning is proactive. It’s the ongoing process of making financial decisions throughout the year with your tax situation in mind. With effective tax planning, you’ve already done the work that matters most when filing season arrives.
Tax planning is a critical part of financial planning: It helps ensure that a taxpayer realizes the greatest tax savings allowed by law, taking advantage of any applicable tax breaks. That includes considerations such as taxable income, filing status, adjustments, exemptions, deductions, credits, major purchases, and investments.
In short, effective tax planning isn’t just about your tax return. It’s about your financial future.
The challenge with keeping taxes and wealth management separate
When your tax professional and your financial advisor work independently, important information can get overlooked. Your financial advisor may not know about a compensation event that affects your tax liability. Your accountant may not be aware of a portfolio rebalancing that triggered capital gains. And neither may have the full picture needed to help you make the most informed decisions possible.
This disconnect isn’t anyone’s fault — it’s simply how the industry has traditionally been structured. But it doesn’t have to be your reality.
The value of an integrated approach
When tax professionals and wealth advisors work as part of the same team, the coordination that results can benefit you in meaningful ways.
Year-round visibility
Rather than having a once-a-year conversation, your tax advisor stays in close contact with your wealth management team. As your financial situation evolves — a job change, a business transaction, a significant investment — your tax picture evolves with it, in real time.
Fewer surprises at filing time
When your tax advisor is already working with your wealth advisor, you don’t have to deal with a last-minute scramble to explain what happened over the past 12 months. Our tax team works to help eliminate much of the hassle involved in gathering tax documents because we’re already embedded in your financial plan.
Research grounded in authoritative sources
When conducting the research that informs your plan, we rely on official sources, including relevant tax laws codified under the Internal Revenue Code, administrative rulings, regulations, and the most recent tax court decisions applicable to your situation.
Strategies tailored to your needs
From evaluating estimated tax payments to identifying potential tax-saving strategies, the goal is always the same: helping you keep more of what you’ve worked hard to build while remaining fully compliant with applicable tax laws.
A cohesive plan that covers the full picture
Comprehensive wealth planning means your tax needs and your financial goals are addressed together, not separately. At Mercer Advisors, our shared goal is to provide clients with a cohesive, integrated plan that balances their tax needs with their financial goals.
Who benefits from integrated tax and wealth management?
The short answer: most people. Tax planning isn’t reserved for those with highly complex financial situations.
If you’re building toward your first real wealth milestones, having a tax professional coordinate with your financial advisor can help you establish better habits and avoid costly missteps early on. You may be growing a portfolio, navigating a job transition, or managing a growing family’s financial needs. Getting the foundation right from the start can make a meaningful difference over time.
If you’ve reached a point where you’re protecting and growing established wealth, the stakes are even higher. Investment income, real estate holdings, business interests, and estate considerations can each carry significant tax implications. Having a tax team that works alongside your wealth advisor year-round — not just at tax time — can help ensure that your decisions are as tax-efficient as they are financially sound.
In either case, the goal isn’t complexity for its own sake. It’s confidence. Confidence that your taxes are handled accurately, that your financial plan accounts for your tax situation, and that your team is always working together on your behalf.
What to look for in an integrated approach
Not every financial advisory firm offers integrated tax services. When evaluating your options, consider asking the following questions:
- How does your tax team collaborate with wealth advisors? The integration should be built into the firm’s structure, not just available upon request.
- Do tax professionals stay involved throughout the year? Year-round coordination is the key differentiator between true integration and a bundled service offering.
- What sources does the tax team rely on? Authoritative, primary sources, not secondhand interpretations, are the standard for sound tax analysis.
- How are tax strategies incorporated into the broader financial plan? Tax-efficient strategies should inform investment decisions, not be applied after the fact.
The Mercer Advisors approach
At Mercer Advisors, our broad-spectrum approach to wealth management reflects a simple belief: Your financial plan should have no blind spots. Our unified team includes CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals, certified public accountants (CPAs), estate planning strategists, and investment management professionals, all coordinating to serve your complete financial picture.
Our tax team uses planning software designed to incorporate information from you, your advisor, and your tax history to calculate projections that can help with estimated tax payments and inform potential tax-saving strategies. And because your tax advisor and your wealth advisor are part of the same team, tax day is less likely to bring uncertainty or surprises.
Whether you’re just beginning to build your financial foundation or you’re focused on protecting the wealth you’ve worked hard to accumulate, the question is the same: Are your taxes and your wealth plan working together?
If the answer is no — or if you’re not sure — this may be the time to explore what a more integrated approach looks like.
Ready to learn more about how Mercer Advisors tax planning and preparation services are part of a comprehensive wealth management solution?
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Tax filing is a once-a-year, backward-looking process of reporting what happened and submitting your return. Tax planning is proactive and ongoing throughout the year — it involves making financial and investment decisions with your tax situation in mind so that you’ve taken advantage of potential savings opportunities long before the filing deadline arrives.
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You can connect with a Mercer Advisors professional to discuss your current financial situation and explore whether an integrated approach to tax planning and wealth management is right for you. Our tax and wealth management teams work together, meaning you can get coordinated, year-round support from a single firm. Visit merceradvisors.com to schedule a conversation.
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Yes. Mercer Advisors has a team of CPAs, enrolled agents, and other tax professionals who work alongside wealth advisors to provide both tax preparation and proactive tax planning. This integrated structure means your tax and financial plans are coordinated throughout the year, not just at filing time.
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When your tax advisor and your wealth advisor are part of the same team, they can share information in real time — so investment decisions, income events, and planning opportunities are all considered together rather than in isolation. This coordination can help reduce surprises at tax time, improve the tax efficiency of your investment decisions, and help ensure your overall financial plan is working as a cohesive whole rather than as a collection of disconnected parts.
All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change. Some of the research and ratings shown in this presentation come from third parties that are not affiliated with Mercer Advisors. The information is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed or warranted by Mercer Advisors. Content, research, tools and stock or option symbols are for educational and illustrative purposes only and do not imply a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell a particular security or to engage in any particular investment strategy. Hypothetical examples are for illustrative purposes only.
Tax services are provided by Mercer Advisors Tax Services, LLC. Clients will sign a separate agreement when engaging Mercer Advisors Tax Services that defines the services provided and any additional fees that may apply.
