Mid-year planning does not look the same for every client. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduced provisions that interact differently depending on where a client sits in their financial life. Summer is the right time to revisit all of it.
Tax returns are in hand or nearly so, income trajectories for the year are clearer, and there is still enough time to execute before year-end windows close.
Below are four mid-year planning opportunities to act on this summer
1. Where you should be on the service calendar
A structured service calendar is one of the most underutilized practice management tools in financial advisory. It creates consistency, ensures no client falls through the cracks, and gives your team a shared framework for what needs to happen and when.
At Carson Wealth in Franklin Lakes, we organize client services into four seasonal windows, and summer carries a distinct set of priorities, as you can see below.
By July, spring meetings are wrapping up for us and tax returns should be in hand. Summer is where that work pays off: mid-year tax strategy reviews, insurance reviews, Holistiplan analysis, financial plan scorecard updates, and Roth conversion modeling using finalized return data. August is the last practical window before the year-end push, and it is when Roth conversion decisions, distribution refinements, and income management moves need to be locked in.
How is the progress on your Annual Service Calendar? Do you need to revise or update your offerings? Mid-year is a good time to review where your team is at and to set up the rest of the year.
Pro tip: Review where you are on your annual service calendar. If you still do not have a client’s tax return, personalized outreach should go out by the end of August for any A+, A, B, and C clients still outstanding. Do not wait until October to escalate.
2. For senior clients, income coordination is the priority
For senior clients, summer 2026 is primarily about income management.
The OBBBA introduced an enhanced senior deduction of $6,000 per eligible individual for taxpayers age 65 and older, available through 2028. For a married couple both over 65, that is $12,000 of additional deduction on top of the base standard deduction, bringing the combined standard deduction to approximately $46,700 in 2026. But the benefit phases out starting at $75,000 of MAGI for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers, and is fully eliminated at $175,000 and $250,000 respectively.
That phaseout range is where the mid-year check-in earns its value. By summer, you have enough year-to-date income data to model whether a client is at risk of losing part of this deduction. If they are sitting below the threshold, this may be the window to execute a modest Roth conversion or harvest gains at a favorable rate. If they are approaching the phaseout, you need to know that now, not in December.
RMD strategy deserves equal attention. Many senior clients are entering the second half of 2026 with significantly larger retirement account balances after several years of strong market performance, which means larger RMDs and more taxable income. For clients who have not yet taken their RMD, mid-year is the time to confirm the amount, determine whether a Qualified Charitable Distribution makes sense before the RMD is taken, and revisit whether a partial Roth conversion earlier in the year has left room for additional conversion before year-end.
IRMAA exposure is the third lever. Medicare surcharges for 2026 are based on 2024 MAGI, but actions taken this year affect 2028 premiums. Clients near an IRMAA threshold need income modeled carefully before any distribution or conversion decision is made. A Roth conversion that pushes a client $1 over an IRMAA cliff can cost thousands in additional Medicare premiums.
Pro tip: For senior clients, treat the enhanced senior deduction as a temporary planning lever with a hard expiration. Model how much income it can absorb before phaseouts erode its value, and build a two- to three-year strategy around it before it disappears after 2028.
3. For business owners, timing and structure decisions cannot wait
Business owner clients have more moving parts in 2026 than in most years, and several of the most valuable decisions are time-sensitive in ways that make summer the right moment to engage.
The OBBBA fully restores 100% bonus depreciation for qualifying assets placed in service after January 19, 2025 and before 2030. Section 179 expensing also expands, with businesses able to immediately expense up to $2.5 million of qualifying assets. For clients planning equipment purchases, vehicle acquisitions, or technology investments, the timing of when those assets are placed in service matters enormously. A purchase decision made in August can still be placed in service before year-end. One deferred until November is cutting it close. The summer check-in is when that conversation needs to happen.
The QBI deduction is permanent under OBBBA, but it remains income-sensitive. For 2026, limitations begin once taxable income exceeds $201,775 for single filers and $403,500 for joint filers, with full limitation at $276,775 and $553,500, respectively. Business owners near those thresholds need income modeled now. Retirement plan contributions, depreciation decisions, and compensation timing can all affect where taxable income lands relative to the QBI phaseout range. Waiting until Q4 to run those numbers leaves little room to act.
For business owners in high-tax states, Pass-Through Entity Tax elections should be reviewed annually. OBBBA increases the personal SALT cap to $40,000 with phaseouts beginning at $500,000, but PTET elections allow owners to capture state tax deductions at the entity level regardless of the personal cap. Election deadlines vary by state and summer is the right time to confirm whether the election is still optimal.
Pro tip: The most common mistake with business owner clients is treating depreciation, QBI, and more as separate decisions. They interact. A large bonus depreciation deduction that creates a loss can eliminate QBI eligibility. Model them together before any major purchase decision is finalized.
4. For accumulation-stage clients, build tax diversification while there is still time
For clients in their 40s and 50s who are still working and accumulating, summer 2026 is primarily about tax diversification and positioning for the decade ahead. These clients have enough earning years remaining to benefit significantly from Roth conversion strategies executed during relatively lower-income windows, but many have never had the conversation framed that way.
The OBBBA’s permanent extension of current tax brackets removes the urgency that sunset provisions previously created, but it does not remove the logic of converting pre-tax balances during years when income is lower than it will be later. For an accumulation-stage client who took on less work this year, changed jobs, or experienced a business slowdown, 2026 may be a better conversion year than anything in the next decade. The tax return tells you whether that window exists. Mid-year tells you whether there is still room to act.
Backdoor Roth conversions deserve attention for clients above the Roth IRA income limits. In 2026, a backdoor Roth conversion can get $7,500 per year into a Roth account, or $8,600 for clients 50 and older. A couple doing this consistently at about $15,000 per year combined could accumulate approximately $550,000 in Roth assets over 20 years assuming a 6% annual growth rate.
If this strategy is not already in place for eligible clients, summer is the time to set it up for the remainder of 2026 and model it as a recurring annual action. And going beyond back-door Roth conversions, what about Mega-after-tax contributions, up to $72,000 a year? Lots of opportunities here to enhance traditional retirement savings through an employer, so check the benefits statements.
Summer is also the right moment to review retirement account contributions more broadly. For clients still contributing to a traditional 401(k), mid-year is a good time to evaluate whether redirecting some or all future contributions to a Roth 401(k) makes sense.
Unlike Roth IRA contributions, Roth 401(k) contributions have no income limit, meaning high earners who cannot contribute directly to a Roth IRA can still build tax-free retirement assets through their employer plan. If a client’s income trajectory suggests they will be in a higher bracket in retirement than they are today, shifting contributions now captures the current rate advantage. Check whether the employer plan allows Roth deferrals, and if so, model the after-tax impact before year-end when contribution elections can be changed.
And while we are discussing tax diversification, 529 plan contributions are worth revisiting for clients with children. OBBBA increases the K-12 annual contribution limit from $10,000 to $20,000 in 2026 and expands qualifying expenses to include curriculum textbooks, online learning, tutoring, standardized test prep, and educational therapies. For clients who have been funding 529s at the prior limit, this is a straightforward conversation that can be had in any summer review meeting.
Pro tip: For accumulation-stage clients with large pre-tax IRA balances, the best time to start Roth conversion conversations is before RMDs force the issue. Summer is a good time to run a preliminary analysis and plant the seed, even if the full strategy takes several years to execute.
Mid-year planning does not wait. The execution windows for Roth conversions, depreciation decisions, PTET elections, and income management all have meaningful lead times. Know your calendar, know your client types, and act while there is still time to make a difference.