Retirement tax planning moves to review in 2026

Tax season is over. The 2025 returns are filed, the extensions are out and you finally have time to breathe. But before summer gets away from you, there's a planning window sitting right in front of you that many tax pros overlook.

Completed returns are packed with retirement planning signals. A client’s 2025 return can reveal missed opportunities, costly oversights and conversations worth having before the end of 2026, when timing may get harder. Here's where to focus.

Look at the return with fresh eyes

You're not reviewing for accuracy this time. You're looking for planning signals. 

• Is a client drawing from retirement accounts they don't need to touch yet? 
• Do they have a large traditional individual retirement account (IRA) balance that's quietly becoming a future tax problem? 
• Did their income drop in a way that opens a Roth conversion window for 2026? 
• Did they turn 73 in 2025 and mishandle any required minimum distributions (RMDs)?

These are your starting points. Pull up a handful of returns from clients in their 50s, 60s, and early retirement years and look at them through a planning lens. You'll find more to work with than you may expect.

Roth strategies hold more options than clients realize 

Roth planning isn't one-size-fits-all, and midyear is the right time to match the right strategy to the right client.

• Traditional Roth conversion. If a client had a lower-income year in 2025, this summer may be the best time to talk about converting dollars from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA for 2026. You know their 2025 income, you can estimate their 2026 income, and you can identify bracket room before it's too late to act. For clients who retired recently, this conversation is especially urgent. Income may be low now, but it may not stay that way once Social Security benefits and RMDs begin.
• Backdoor Roth. High-income clients who earn too much to contribute directly to a Roth IRA still have a path in. The backdoor Roth strategy involves making a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA and then converting it to a Roth IRA shortly after. It's a legitimate and widely used strategy, but it requires careful attention to the pro-rata rule. If a client has existing pre-tax IRA balances, a portion of the conversion will be taxable. Review the 2025 return for Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs, to see if they're already doing this and whether it was handled correctly.
• Mega backdoor Roth. For clients who participate in a §401(k) plan that allows after-tax contributions and in-plan Roth conversions or in-service withdrawals, the mega backdoor Roth can be a powerful wealth-building tool. In 2026, the total §401(k) contribution limit is $72,000, which generally includes employee deferrals, employer contributions and after-tax contributions, but not catch-up contributions. Clients who max out their traditional or Roth §401(k) deferral and still have room under the total limit can make after-tax contributions and then convert them to Roth, potentially sheltering tens of thousands of dollars in additional tax-free growth each year. Not every plan allows this, so the first step is reviewing the plan document or having the client check with their plan administrator.

RMDs are a common and costly oversight

A few things to watch for in the 2025 return: 

• Missed RMDs. If a client turned 73 in 2025 and there's no RMD reflected on the return, that needs immediate attention; confirm whether the client took the first RMD by April 1, 2026, or whether corrective action is needed. The penalty for a missed RMD can be steep, so tax professionals should confirm the applicable deadline and put a correction strategy in place promptly.
• Incorrect calculations. Clients who calculate their own RMDs often get the account balance, the applicable divisor or the aggregation rules wrong. A quick review can catch errors before they compound into a bigger problem.
• Inherited IRAs. Clients who inherited an IRA from non-spouses may not fully understand the 10-year rule or the annual distribution requirements that apply to their situation. This is a conversation worth having proactively rather than at next filing season.

Rollovers and early distributions 

If you see an early IRA distribution on the 2025 return that triggered the 10% penalty, that's your first call. Clients who tapped retirement savings before age 59½ may not have understood the full cost, and a conversation now can prevent the same mistake in 2026.

If a client has a job change or retirement ahead this year, walk them through the rollover process before they receive a distribution check. A check made out to the client rather than a direct rollover can trigger 20% federal income tax withholding and a surprise tax bill. Getting ahead of this takes 15 minutes and can save a client thousands of dollars.

Be the advisor, not just the preparer

The post-filing window is your chance to ask bigger questions. Are clients saving enough? Are they on track for the retirement they're imagining? Have they considered how a market downturn early in retirement could affect withdrawals and how long their savings last?

You don't need a financial planning practice to raise these questions. You just need to make the call. A 20-minute conversation that surfaces one or two planning items positions you as a year-round advisor, not just a seasonal preparer. The clients who benefit most from midyear retirement planning are the ones whose tax pro recognized the opportunity and reached out first.

NATP has resources to help you build advisory skills year-round. Visit natptax.com to learn more.