Do I have to move my investments or fire my advisor to work with Go Beyond Tax?

No. A tax-planning engagement does not require you to move accounts or change advisors. We work from your tax return and your account statements, build the multi-year conversion plan, and with your permission share the recommendations with the advisor who will carry them out.

My advisor already recommended a Roth conversion amount. What does a CPA add?

An independent check on the number from the tax side. The same conversion costs different amounts in different years. In our example household a $100,000 conversion costs a different federal amount at 63 with no Social Security than it does at 68 once Social Security is on the return, because the conversion also changes how much of the benefit is taxable. We confirm whether the recommended amount fits the bracket, the IRMAA line and the years ahead, or whether a different amount or a different year is cheaper.

Does Go Beyond Tax work with clients outside New York?

Yes. The conversion analysis is done virtually and Go Beyond Tax works with households nationwide. State tax treatment is part of the analysis, including a move between states during the conversion years.

Roth conversions · working with your advisor

You already have a financial advisor. Do you still need a CPA for Roth conversions?

Reviewed by Jim Swiech, CPA · Updated October 10, 2026

Quick answer

Often yes, and it does not mean replacing anyone. Your advisor decides how the money is invested. A Roth conversion is decided on your tax return: how much to convert, in which years, what it does to the taxable share of your Social Security, and whether the year crosses a Medicare line that bills you two years later.

Those are two different jobs. Plenty of households are well served on the investment side while nobody is running the tax side year by year.

The two jobs are not the same job

A good advisor is managing risk, allocation, rebalancing and the order you spend from. That work is real and we are not asking you to put it aside. But a conversion is an election made on a return. Its price depends on the bracket you are sitting in that year, how much of your Social Security becomes taxable because of it, whether it phases out the senior deduction, what your state does with the income, and where it leaves your modified adjusted gross income against the Medicare lines.

None of that shows up on a portfolio statement. It shows up in April, and by then the year is closed.

The same conversion, three different prices

Here is our standard example household: married filing jointly, both spouses the same age, 2026 law, a $40,000 IRA draw in the first two stages and a $60,000 required minimum distribution in the third. Social Security is $48,000 once it starts. The same $100,000 conversion is not the same decision in each year.

Federal cost of the same $100,000 conversion, our example household, 2026 law.
When	Federal cost	Effective rate
Age 63, retired, no Social Security yet	$12,360	12.4%
Age 68, Social Security has started	$18,013	18.0%
Age 76, RMDs are running	$18,687	18.7%

The gap is not a market call. It is the calendar. Once Social Security is on the return, the conversion drags more of the benefit into taxable income, so you are paying tax on the conversion and on benefits that were not taxed before. Once RMDs start, the forced withdrawal has already filled the cheap brackets.

One dollar over the first Medicare IRMAA line costs a couple about $1,949 in extra Part B premiums, billed two years after the conversion year. It is a cliff, not a slope, and it is easy to cross by accident when the conversion amount is picked without the return in front of you.

What stays with your advisor

Everything they do now. The accounts stay where they are, the allocation is theirs, and they execute the conversion itself. We do not take custody, we do not manage investments, and we do not ask you to move a dollar. What we hand over is the number and the year.

What we need from you

Your most recent tax return, current balances by account type, what Social Security looks like or when you plan to claim, any pension or annuity, and your best guess at spending. That is usually enough to build the first projection.

What you receive

A multi-year projection that answers whether to convert, how much, which years and which accounts, with the Medicare and Social Security effects shown rather than assumed. It is written to be handed to your advisor, not filed away.

How the coordination works

With your permission we send the recommendation to your advisor directly, in the form they need to act on it. If they disagree with something, that is a useful conversation and we will have it. The goal is one plan that both sides have seen, instead of a tax decision made in isolation in December.

Go Beyond Tax is CPA-led and works with households nationwide. A second opinion on the tax side does not cost you your advisor.

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Keep going

Quick answers

I already have a financial advisor. Do I still need a CPA for Roth conversion planning?: Often yes, and it does not mean replacing anyone. Your advisor manages how the money is invested. A Roth conversion is decided on your tax return: how much to convert, in which years, what it does to the taxable share of your Social Security, and whether the year crosses a Medicare IRMAA line two years out. Those are two different jobs, and plenty of households are well served on the investment side while nobody is modeling the tax side year by year.
Do I have to move my investments or fire my advisor to work with Go Beyond Tax?: No. A tax-planning engagement does not require you to move accounts or change advisors. We work from your tax return and your account statements, build the multi-year conversion plan, and with your permission share the recommendations with the advisor who will carry them out.
My advisor already recommended a Roth conversion amount. What does a CPA add?: An independent check on the number from the tax side. The same conversion costs different amounts in different years. In our example household a $100,000 conversion costs a different federal amount at 63 with no Social Security than it does at 68 once Social Security is on the return, because the conversion also changes how much of the benefit is taxable. We confirm whether the recommended amount fits the bracket, the IRMAA line and the years ahead, or whether a different amount or a different year is cheaper.
Does Go Beyond Tax work with clients outside New York?: Yes. The conversion analysis is done virtually and Go Beyond Tax works with households nationwide. State tax treatment is part of the analysis, including a move between states during the conversion years.

Updated October 10, 2026. Reviewed by Jim Swiech, CPA.

Educational and general in nature. Not tax, legal or investment advice, and not a recommendation to convert. Figures are 2026 federal amounts under the assumptions stated on this page; your return has more lines than any example. Go Beyond Tax is a brand of Swiech Consulting LLC.