Tax Return Review in Alpharetta, GA
We read your filed tax return for what it says about next year, working alongside your accountant rather than in place of one.
Fee-Only • Fiduciary • Independent RIA • CFP®, ChFC® • 30+ Years Serving North Atlanta
What We Do and What We Do Not Do
We do not prepare or file returns. We are not accountants and we do not replace yours.
We read a return that has already been filed, for what it tells us about planning decisions in the year ahead. What we find goes to you and to your accountant.
Your CPA reports what happened. We use that record to shape what happens next.If you do not currently work with an accountant, we can talk about whether you need one.
What We Work Through
We start with what you own and where you own it. That usually turns up accounts that have never been looked at together, most often old 401(k) balances left at former employers alongside a brokerage account that has been managed on its own.
From there we decide which investments belong in which accounts, pick funds with their tax treatment in mind, direct new contributions so those choices hold as your balances grow, and track your gains and losses through the year.
We also look for tax loss harvesting opportunities in your taxable accounts, and read your filed return through a tax return review to see what it says about the year ahead.This work is part of tax planning and investment planning, not a separate service.
Which Accounts Hold Which Investments
Your accounts are taxed three ways: a taxable brokerage account every year, a traditional IRA or 401(k) only when you take money out, and a Roth not at all once the rules are met.
Asset location means deciding which investment goes where. Investments that pay out income every year usually belong in a tax-deferred account. Investments with the most growth ahead of them often belong in a Roth. Investments that pay out little, where you control when gains happen, work well in a taxable account.
The right answer depends on your tax bracket now, the bracket you expect later, and when you plan to spend from each account.
What We Look For
Where your investment income comes from. A lot of interest and dividend income in a taxable account usually means the wrong investments are sitting there. That is a question of which account holds what, not a mistake on the return.
Gains and losses. What you sold at a gain this year, and any losses left over to carry into next year. Losses carried forward are easy to forget, and a forgotten one never gets used. This connects straight to tax loss harvesting.
Retirement contributions. Which accounts you put money into, which you did not, and whether you used everything available to you.
Income limits you came close to. A number of tax breaks and surcharges switch on at specific income levels, and your income is partly within your control. Knowing you landed just over one of those lines changes next year's plan.
Accounts that are not working together. Rollovers, conversions, and balances left at former employers all show up on the return, and together they show whether your accounts are being managed as one plan.
Choices and reporting worth a second look. Some decisions show up only on the return, and some transactions get reported in a way that does not match what actually happened. Where something looks off, we raise it with your accountant. We do not amend, correct, or recharacterize anything ourselves.
Before You File, and After
Before you file, your accountant needs numbers from your accounts: realized gains and losses, cost basis, harvested losses, Roth conversions, and charitable distributions. We send those over so nothing has to be rebuilt from statements in April. It is also the last window to make a prior-year IRA, HSA, or SEP contribution, and we look at whether one makes sense for you before the deadline passes.
After you file, we read the completed return. A return filed in April describes a year that is already closed, and a return reviewed the following March leaves almost nothing left to change.
The decisions that matter most get made during the year: conversions, charitable timing, harvesting, and the handling of executive compensation.
How This Fits With the Rest of Your Plan
Tax return review is one of three areas beneath tax planning, alongside tax loss harvesting and tax-efficient investing.
It also informs estate planning and retirement income planning, since both depend on an accurate picture of how your income is currently taxed.
Fee-only. An annual fee based on assets under management, between 0.75% and 1.25%. We do not bill separately for a return review, we do not earn commissions, and we do not charge performance-based fees.
Why Choose Daner Wealth Management
Two-person firm in Alpharetta, serving clients here and in Roswell and Johns Creek. Marc reads the returns himself.
He is a CFP® and ChFC® with more than 30 years of individual advisory experience, and founded the firm in 2022 after a career at Smith Barney and Wells Fargo.
Independent, SEC-registered, and fiduciary. Client assets are held at Wells Fargo Clearing Services as custodian.
Start With a Conversation
If your return gets filed each year and nobody reads it for what it says about next year, bring it to a first conversation. There is no obligation.
Tax Return Review FAQs
Get your questions answered about return reviews.
Your CPA prepares and files the return, and most are hired to prepare it rather than to plan around it. We read the filed return for planning purposes and work alongside your accountant. Two different roles, both needed.
No. We do not prepare returns, file returns, or give tax advice in place of your accountant. We review a return that has already been filed and use it to inform planning.
Soon after filing, so there is a full year left to act on what it shows.
