Hook Law Now Offers Tax Planning, Not Just Tax Preparation

Hook Law now offers proactive tax planning in addition to the tax return preparation we already provide for individuals, estates, trusts, and businesses. Led by Trey Harris, CPA, our expanded tax practice gives clients an opportunity to consider tax consequences before important financial decisions are final.

For years, Hook Law has prepared tax returns for clients and for the estates and trusts we administer. That work continues.

What’s new is the opportunity to work with us before the year is over and before important financial decisions have already been made.

Hook Law now offers tax planning as a separate service, giving clients more time to evaluate how retirement withdrawals, Roth conversions, trust distributions, gifts, business decisions, and other transactions may affect their broader financial and estate plans.

What’s New at Hook Law?

Tax preparation looks backward. It records what happened during the year and reports those events on the appropriate returns.

Tax planning happens earlier, while decisions may still be open.

By the time a tax return is prepared, a withdrawal may already have been taken, an asset sold, or a distribution made. Planning creates an opportunity to consider the tax consequences before taking action.

What Can Tax Planning Help With?

A planning session is a one-on-one review of your own finances, goals, and circumstances. Depending on your situation, it may cover:

Effective marginal rate analysis

What the next dollar of income actually costs once Social Security taxability, capital gain stacking, Medicare premium thresholds, the net investment income tax, and applicable phase-outs are all accounted for. This is the number that should drive decisions, and it is rarely the one on the bracket table.

Withdrawal sequencing

The order in which you draw from traditional accounts, Roth accounts, and taxable brokerage accounts, and how that order interacts with required minimum distributions and with the thresholds above.

Retirement planning

This covers more ground than most people expect. Whether a Roth conversion makes sense and how much to convert in a given year, measured against your current effective rate and your expected future rate. When required minimum distributions begin and what the years before they start are worth. Whether charitable giving should be made directly from an individual retirement account rather than from other funds, which for many retirees produces a better result than a deduction would. How Social Security claiming timing interacts with everything else. And what happens to a surviving spouse, who will eventually file as a single taxpayer on much the same income, often at a materially higher rate.

Inherited retirement accounts

The rules governing how quickly a beneficiary must draw down an inherited account changed substantially in recent years, and the answer now depends on who the beneficiary is and whether the original owner had begun taking distributions. Beneficiary designations made under the old rules may no longer produce the outcome you intended, and they sit outside your will, so a plan review does not always catch them.

Long-term care and Medicaid eligibility

Income and asset decisions that make sense on a tax return can create problems for Medicaid eligibility, and the reverse is also true. Because our elder law and tax work sit in the same firm, these can be weighed together rather than in sequence.

Trust and estate distribution timing

When a trust distributes income determines whether it is taxed at trust rates or beneficiary rates. Trust brackets compress quickly, and the difference is often meaningful.

Gifting and exemption use

How lifetime gifts interact with the federal exemption, the annual exclusion, and the basis your heirs receive.

Business owners

Entity structure, owner compensation, and how a business interest interacts with the trusts in your estate plan.

How Do Hook Law’s Tax Planning Services Work?

Tax planning and tax return preparation are separate services.

You can work with Hook Law on proactive planning without moving your existing tax preparation relationship to the firm.

You Can Keep Your Existing CPA or Advisor

Clients who already work with a CPA, tax preparer, or financial advisor can continue those relationships.

Hook Law can coordinate with existing professionals when appropriate so tax decisions remain aligned with estate planning and other legal considerations.

Who Handles the Tax Planning Work?

Tax planning engagements are handled by Trey Harris, CPA, Hook Law’s Head of Tax.

He oversees planning and compliance for individual, trust, estate, and business clients and works alongside Hook Law’s attorneys and estate administration team. That coordination can be particularly useful when a tax decision also affects an estate plan, trust, inheritance, or business interest.

Why Does Planning Ahead Matter?

Some tax decisions become difficult or impossible to change after a transaction occurs or the calendar year ends.

Reviewing those choices earlier can create more room to understand the tradeoffs before acting. That may be especially useful before a major retirement distribution, Roth conversion, significant gift, asset sale, trust distribution, or business decision.

Key Takeaways

• Hook Law now offers proactive tax planning in addition to tax return preparation.
• Planning focuses on decisions that may still be changed before they become final.
• Tax planning may include retirement income, Roth conversions, trusts, gifting, estate matters, and business decisions.
• Trey Harris, CPA, leads Hook Law’s tax planning and compliance work.
• Clients can keep their existing CPA, tax preparer, or financial advisor while using Hook Law for planning.
• Hook Law now also prepares partnership, S corporation, and corporate tax returns.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Have to Use Hook Law for Tax Preparation to Use Tax Planning Services?

No. Tax planning and return preparation are separate services. You can continue using your existing tax preparer while working with Hook Law on proactive planning.

When Should I Start Tax Planning?

Planning is generally most useful before a significant financial transaction or before year-end, while there is still time to evaluate different options.

Is Tax Planning Only for Retirees?

No. Retirement decisions are one common area, but tax planning may also involve trusts, estates, gifts, business ownership, investments, or other financial decisions.

Can Hook Law Work With My Existing Financial Advisor?

Yes. When appropriate, Hook Law can coordinate with an existing CPA, tax professional, or financial advisor so tax considerations fit with the rest of your planning.

A New Way to Plan Ahead With Hook Law

Tax preparation remains an important part of Hook Law’s tax practice. Clients now also have the option to address tax questions earlier, while there may still be choices to consider.

With proactive tax planning now available, Hook Law can help clients evaluate tax consequences alongside retirement, estate planning, trusts, business interests, and other financial decisions.

Contact Hook Law to learn more about the firm’s tax planning services or to discuss whether a planning engagement fits your situation.