OBBBA disruption: How to turn tax chaos into advisory revenue

The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) represents a seismic shift in the U.S. tax landscape. With sweeping changes, clients are calling their accountants with urgent questions about year-end planning, deductions, business structures, and future tax liabilities. Amid the uncertainty, however, one thing is clear — firms that are prepared to offer informed, proactive guidance have a powerful opportunity to build trust, deepen client relationships, and turn regulatory complexity into recurring advisory revenue.

So, how exactly do you turn tax chaos into an instrument of growth? Whether you’re a firm leader, practice manager, or solo practitioner, this white paper outlines a comprehensive framework for turning legislative change into client value.

We’ll also explore how modern AI-powered technology and advanced automation solutions can serve as your strategic advantage during this transformation. With intelligent regulatory updates, automated workflow optimization, and systematic advisory processes, your firm can leverage the latest technology to navigate this critical year-end planning period while building the foundation for sustained advisory growth beyond 2025.

The advisory imperative

Turning complexity into client value

The OBBBA has introduced an estimated 10 to15% increase in complexity for tax and accounting professionals, fundamentally altering the compliance landscape for both business and individual clients. Far from being a minor legislative tweak, OBBBA consolidates and modifies numerous tax provisions, bringing a surge in new reporting requirements, eligibility thresholds, and interpretation nuances. While the increased complexity may initially feel like a burden, it provides a unique inflection point for your firm to expand its value proposition.

At the same time, the accounting profession’s traditional reliance on compliance as a core revenue stream is being disrupted. As tax preparation becomes increasingly commoditized, many firms find themselves caught in a race to the bottom on pricing. The OBBBA’s added complexity means compliance is not only more demanding but also less profitable if treated as a standalone service. In contrast, advisory services are emerging as a high-value, scalable path forward. By shifting your firm’s value positioning from that of a preparer to a partner, you can protect margins and foster stronger client relationships.

This shift is not just hearsay; it’s backed by data. According to a recent CPA.com study, accounting firms offering advisory services see up to a 50% increase in monthly revenue per client. As Mike Butrica, CPA, Founder and Principal at Butrica Ployd & Associates, explained, “Within the first two years of implementing Practice Forward, we were able to quantify our revenue impact had doubled.”

Additionally, current spending on tax planning solutions in the U.S. is already estimated at $60 to 90 million, with a total addressable market reaching as high as $550 million. This signals that both clients and the market at large are ready for a new model of service — one that prioritizes insight and strategic planning over traditional compliance.

What’s more is that clients navigating OBBBA’s changes aren’t just looking for answers. They’re seeking a trusted partner to guide them through unfamiliar territory. The ripple effects of the legislation touch everything from small business structures to estate planning. This is a defining moment for tax and accounting professionals to redefine value, deepen client relationships, and future-proof their firms.

As we enter year-end and beyond, taxpayers face a maze of changes to deductions, credits, and filing obligations — many of which require decisions before December 31 to optimize outcomes. By acting as a strategic partner, your firm can help them make the most of these changes by assessing their current structures, flagging areas of risk, and identifying savings opportunities. It’s a chance to offer personalized advisory sessions focused on end-of-year tax planning, which can then be packaged into ongoing services that support clients beyond this tax season.

By leaning into the complexity of OBBBA, your firm can distinguish itself in a changing landscape. By doing so, you’ll not only meet the immediate challenges of year-end but also set the stage for sustainable growth and differentiated value in the years ahead. But how do you know if your firm is poised to meet this challenge?

OBBBA complexity equals firm growth opportunity

OBBBA is more than just another layer of tax complexity. It’s a catalyst for the shift to more meaningful — and lucrative — client advisory services.

• 10 to 15% more complexity equals higher client needs
• Compliance is rising in cost but shrinking in margin
• Advisory services can increase monthly revenue per client by up to 50%
• $550 million total addressable market for tax planning services

Firms that step up as strategic advisors — not just traditional compliance processors — will lead the way in client retention, profitability, and long-term relevance.

Now is the time to evaluate:

• Are your teams trained to deliver advisory services?
• Have you packaged year-end planning into scalable offerings?
• Is your firm prepared to guide clients through Q4’s decision deadlines?

Assessing your current state

Is your firm ready for the OBBBA?

Now is the time for your firm to take a hard look at internal operations and determine whether they’re truly equipped for what lies ahead. A readiness assessment can help identify strengths and uncover critical gaps in your firm’s ability to meet both compliance and advisory demands. This assessment should evaluate your workflows, technology stack, team capacity, and advisory potential.

Another key component of advisory preparedness is talent capacity. Firms must evaluate whether they have the right people — and enough of them — to handle the workload.
Assess staff knowledge of the new legislation, identify areas where additional training may be required, and determine whether existing teams can support expanded advisory offerings. Without this step, even the most forward-looking strategy could falter under operational strain.

Equally important is understanding your current level of process automation. Manual workflows may have sufficed in a simpler tax environment, but under OBBBA, they can quickly become bottlenecks. Firms should take stock of which processes — such as data collection, document review, and reporting — are still handled manually and explore automation opportunities to reduce errors, free up staff time, and create space for higher- value advisory work.

Identifying advisory opportunities within your existing client base is another crucial readiness measure. Many firms already have clients who would benefit from proactive guidance on the tax planning implications of OBBBA but lack the systems or engagement strategies to deliver those services effectively. Conducting a client segmentation exercise can help uncover who may be most impacted by the new rules, and who may be most receptive to a more strategic relationship.

Finally, technology adoption readiness plays a central role in your firm’s ability to adapt and thrive. Firms prepared to integrate AI and other advanced tools into their workflow will have a competitive advantage in both efficiency and insight. Assess whether your systems are capable of supporting AI-powered solutions, and whether your team is prepared to leverage those tools effectively. Being agile in this way is essential not only for navigating OBBBA but for building a scalable, advisory-led practice that grows with your clients’ evolving needs.

How to assess your firm’s OBBBA readiness:

1. Conduct a comprehensive OBBBA readiness assessment. Review your firm’s current workflows, client base, and service offerings to determine where you stand in terms of preparedness for the added complexity brought by OBBBA.
2. Evaluate talent capacity and expertise. Assess whether your team has the knowledge and bandwidth to manage increased compliance demands and support strategic advisory services. Identify skill gaps and plan for targeted training or hiring as needed.
3. Audit manual processes. Map out all core tax and accounting processes to identify which are manual and prone to inefficiencies. Prioritize automation in areas like document handling, data entry, and reporting.
4. Segment clients and identify advisory opportunities. Analyze your client base to identify those who are most affected by OBBBA and would benefit from proactive tax planning and advisory services. Create tailored engagement strategies for each segment.
5. Assess technology infrastructure and AI integration readiness. Review your current tech stack to determine if it supports scalable advisory services and AI-driven insights. Ensure your systems are compatible with modern solutions and that your team is trained to use them effectively.

The transformation framework

Harnessing Thomson Reuters Practice Forward and Ready to Advise

The path from traditional compliance work to scalable advisory services requires both strategic methodology and advanced technology. Practice Forward provides a market- proven and regimented program that helps firms maximize their growth potential by providing a combination of innovative and proven business model methodologies, while Ready to Advise delivers the AI-powered tools to identify opportunities and execute strategies with precision.

Practice Forward: The strategic foundation

Navigate firms down the path of developing and implementing an advisory services approach to engaging clients with Practice Forward. Rooted in a fundamental distinction between traditional compliance services and value-add advisory work, this comprehensive transformation program addresses the core challenge facing accounting professionals — how to systematically shift from reactive, transactional relationships to proactive, strategic partnerships that command premium pricing.

The Practice Forward methodology provides firms with proven business model frameworks, pricing strategies, and client engagement processes that have been refined across hundreds of successful implementations. Firms implementing Practice Forward methodologies have achieved $170k of new revenue in less than a full year, demonstrating the tangible impact of structured advisory transformation. The program includes specialized coaching, templates, and systematic approaches that enable firms to package and price advisory services consistently while maintaining quality delivery across all staff levels.

Ready to Advise: AI-powered advisory excellence

Ready to Advise complements Practice Forward by solving the critical challenge of advisory scalability. This AI powered tax planning advisory solution empowers tax and accounting firms to transition more of their business to strategic advisory services by standardizing, automating, and democratizing their workflow. The platform addresses three fundamental barriers to advisory growth — the expertise bottleneck where knowledge lives only in senior professionals’ heads, the difficulty of demonstrating advisory value to skeptical clients, and the challenge of maintaining consistency across engagements.

The solution synthesizes client data to surface the most impactful tax strategies for each unique context, while providing rapid knowledge transfer through comprehensive client 360 profiles. Use Ready to Advise to enable less experienced staff to efficiently and effectively execute tax strategies by providing straightforward, step-by-step guidance and supporting resources powered by the expert content on Thomson Reuters Checkpoint.

This democratization of expertise allows firms to scale advisory services without overwhelming senior staff or compromising quality. As Brittany S. Lanphier, CPA, Founder and Managing Partner at Lanphier LLP, puts it, “The AI guided tools in Ready to Advise will really help us delegate some of the execution of client identified strategies from that manager lead advisor role to more junior roles by giving them a clearer picture of what needs to happen to implement the strategies and bring consistency to [the process] within the firm.”

Agentic AI: Overcoming professional challenges

The integrated AI capabilities within Practice Forward and Ready to Advise directly address the five critical challenges identified in the 2025 State of Tax Professionals Report — talent pressure, regulatory complexity, technology adoption, time management, and workload distribution. The agentic AI system doesn’t just automate routine tasks — it actively guides decision-making, surfaces opportunities, and provides contextual expertise at the point of need.

For talent challenges, the AI enables junior staff to handle sophisticated advisory work with confidence through guided workflows and real-time support. Regulatory complexity is managed through built-in updates and automated compliance monitoring. Time management improves through intelligent prioritization and streamlined processes, while workload distribution becomes more efficient as the system enables any team member to contribute meaningfully to advisory engagements.

This combination creates a powerful competitive advantage — firms can deliver consistent, high-quality advisory services at scale while building the recurring revenue relationships that future-proof their practice against commoditization pressures. The result is not just operational efficiency, but strategic transformation that positions firms as indispensable advisors in an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

How to transform the OBBBA into an advisory opportunity:

1. Bundle your strategy and structure. Use Ready to Advise to uncover client-specific opportunities and surface relevant tax planning strategies. Apply Practice Forward to build a repeatable methodology, price advisory services appropriately, and ensure consistent delivery.
2. Empower your team with technology. Automate routine compliance tasks to free up staff capacity. Enable less experienced team members with step-by-step guidance and AI-generated insights.
3. Ensure built-in regulatory compliance. Rely on built-in updates to stay aligned with OBBBA changes. Use automated alerts and workflows to keep clients informed and prepared.
4. Streamline workload and time management. Implement efficient workflows that eliminate bottlenecks. Use systematized processes to deliver advisory services consistently and proactively.
5. Measure and scale success. Track KPIs like advisory revenue growth, engagement volume, and staff utilization. Start with pilot clients and scale firm-wide using proven templates and training modules.

Navigating heightened challenges

Advantages of Practice Forward and Ready to Advise

According to the 2025 State of Tax Professionals Report, five pressing challenges are top-of-mind for firm leaders: talent pressure, rapid regulatory change, AI adoption, compressed timelines, and workload imbalance. With its massive regulatory change, the OBBBA represents a catalyst that will either overwhelm firms locked in traditional models or propel forward those who are equipped with modern strategies and tools.

Let’s see how Practice Forward and Ready to Advise can address these challenges head-on, even amidst the complexity of the OBBBA.

Challenge No. 1. Talent pressure in a tighter labor market. The OBBBA amplifies the existing talent shortage by requiring deeper expertise and faster upskilling across all levels of staff. Junior team members need to step up into more sophisticated tax planning roles, while senior professionals are pulled further into strategic conversations.

Solution. The Practice Forward and Ready to Advise solution helps bridge this gap by offering structured advisory frameworks and tools that democratize expertise, enabling every staff member to contribute more strategically and confidently. With guided workflows and AI-powered insights, even less experienced professionals can make meaningful contributions. This also makes the firm more attractive to top talent looking for strategic, tech-forward work.

Challenge No. 2. Staying ahead of rapid regulatory change. With provisions like “no tax on tips or overtime” altering core W-2 calculations and triggering potential state-level deviations, the OBBBA’s complexity will test even the most experienced professionals.

Solution. Built-in regulatory updates and scenario-based planning templates within Practice Forward and Ready to Advise ensure your firm stays ahead of regulatory change, turning potential chaos into a platform for client education and advisory-led engagement.

Challenge No. 3. Accelerating AI adoption to stay competitive. The need to embrace technology is no longer optional, it’s necessary. OBBBA’s intricacies demand

real-time data analysis, automated flagging of planning opportunities, and streamlined execution.

Solution. The AI-powered features within Practice Forward and Ready to Advise enable firms to manage complexity with greater agility, offering tools that analyze data, reduce manual effort, and surface insights for deeper client relationships and firmwide efficiency.

Challenge No. 4. Gaining control over time and deadlines. Time is a dwindling commodity during filing seasons and the OBBBA’s added demands will only further compress deadlines. Firms that rely on reactive, manual processes will struggle to keep pace.

Solution. By systematizing advisory services, standardizing deliverables, and automating lower-value tasks, Practice Forward and Ready to Advise gives firms a path to regain control of their calendars and shift from firefighting to future-focused planning.

Challenge No. 5. Alleviating workload imbalance and burnout. The additional workload created by the OBBBA risks tipping already strained teams into burnout. Traditional resource models aren’t built for this new normal.

Solution. Practice Forward and Ready to Advise supports better workload distribution through automation and team-based advisory workflows, empowering firms to do more with less. The result is not only better output, but also improved staff morale, client satisfaction, and long-term growth potential.

Recognizing internal barriers to change

Beyond these visible challenges lie deeper, internal barriers that also prevent firms from scaling advisory services effectively.

Many firms continue to operate with a compliance-first mindset, where success is measured by throughput, billable hours, and seasonal volume. While this model has served the profession well in the past, it can hinder innovation and discourage investment in advisory-focused processes and training. Shifting to an advisory mindset requires leadership to reimagine their value proposition — not as a transactional service provider, but as a strategic partner to clients.

Internal barrier No. 1. In many firms, critical advisory expertise lives inside the heads of senior team members who often identify opportunities manually and inconsistently. This siloed approach makes it nearly impossible to train junior staff, standardize service delivery, or scale offerings.

Solution. Ready to Advise turns expertise into process. Its agentic AI-driven guidance surfaces personalized tax planning strategies while providing step-by-step instructions. This gives your team the structure and confidence they need to collaborate across levels and deliver strategic outcomes consistently.

Internal barrier No. 2. Skepticism from clients and staff often remains a major hurdle. Many clients are hesitant to adopt unfamiliar services, and firms often struggle to articulate the unique value that advisory services bring.

Solution. Ready to Advise helps eliminate that skepticism with compelling, client-ready reports that clearly present the projected financial benefit of a proposed plan and measure the real impact of completed engagements. These visual deliverables support advisory conversations and help clients see where the relationship can go next.

Internal barrier No. 3. Internally, the leap from compliance to advisory can feel overwhelming. It requires new workflows, new pricing strategies, and a shift in mindset.

Solution. Practice Forward and Ready to Advise simplifies that leap by offering packaged, repeatable advisory services. From client scoping and pricing to delivery and follow-up, firms gain a playbook for consistent and profitable advisory execution.

Internal barrier No. 4. Finally, differentiation is more critical — and more difficult — than ever. In a crowded market where every firm offers advisory services, standing out means delivering a different experience.

Solution. Ready to Advise enables just that. By combining expert-vetted planning content with powerful automation, it equips firms to offer deeper insights, more personalized advice, and a streamlined experience clients can’t get elsewhere.

In short, the OBBBA doesn’t just reveal the cracks in traditional firm models, it accelerates the need for change. Practice Forward and Ready to Advise is your catalyst to modernize, scale, and lead.

Making it real

Year-end implementation for 2025 tax season success

As the year-end planning window rapidly approaches, firms must act with urgency to capitalize on the advisory opportunities created by the OBBBA. With the right preparation and tools in place, you can use the final quarter of the year to redefine your role with clients, build a robust advisory pipeline, and set the stage for long-term revenue growth.

To get started, deploy a phased year-end implementation strategy focused on year- end tax planning. This includes reviewing client files through the lens of OBBBA’s new provisions, identifying planning opportunities, and using tools like Ready to Advise to deliver strategic recommendations.

At the same time, Practice Forward can be used to price, package, and deliver these services consistently, ensuring your firm gets paid for its expertise. Key metrics to track during this period include the number of opportunities identified, proposal-to-engagement conversion rates, and average revenue per client.

Firms that have implemented this bundled approach are already seeing significant gains. Case studies show revenue increases of 25-40% within a single planning season, with some achieving up to a 50% increase in monthly client revenue, as reported by CPA. com. These results stem from repositioning the firm from a reactive tax preparer to a proactive advisor — a shift made possible by leveraging AI-enabled tools, structured methodologies, and strategic client engagement.

To support this shift, begin by segmenting your client base using data insights and predictive analytics. By identifying clients most impacted by OBBBA — such as those with high overtime income, significant tip-based wages, or multistate filings — your firm can prioritize outreach and customize planning conversations. Tools embedded in Ready to Advise enable your staff to generate scenario-based projections and personalized strategy maps that translate complex legislative changes into an actionable plan for clients.

In parallel, internal staff must be aligned and upskilled to handle the advisory demand surge. Year-end is the ideal time to conduct firmwide training focused on new OBBBA provisions, consultative client communication techniques, and advisory workflow best practices. Leveraging the training modules within Practice Forward ensures that every team member — from senior partners to junior staff — understands their role in delivering and supporting the firm’s advisory offerings.

Client education is equally critical. According to the 2025 State of Tax Professionals Report, 75% of firms surveyed said their clients strongly desire more tax and business advice.

Firms that proactively engage clients with thought leadership via webinars, white papers, newsletters, and personalized year-end tax checklists build trust and reinforce their value as strategic advisors. These educational touchpoints not only showcase the firm’s grasp of new legislation but also help clients understand why planning is necessary now.

Finally, year-end is the time to systematize service delivery. Firms that create repeatable advisory packages aligned with OBBBA implications — such as Tip and Overtime Impact Reviews or State-by-State Filing Strategy Sessions — can scale advisory services efficiently. Tools like Practice Forward support standardized delivery with built-in templates, pricing calculators, and engagement workflows. By year-end, your firm will not only complete planning engagements, but you’ll also set the stage for recurring advisory revenue into the 2026 tax season and beyond.

In summary, year-end is not just a deadline; it’s a strategic window. Firms that take decisive action now can move faster, serve smarter, and grow stronger. The future of tax isn’t just about compliance. It’s about proactive, technology-enabled advising that delivers value year-round.

Year-end advisory implementation checklist

Capitalize on OBBBA opportunities with this phased approach:

1. Identify high-impact clients. Prioritize those affected by overtime, tips, or multi-state changes. Use client segmentation tools to tailor outreach and planning.
2. Plan with purpose. Conduct OBBBA-specific year-end tax reviews and generate personalized projections and planning scenarios.
3. Upskill your team. Train staff on OBBBA provisions and advisory workflows. Align roles using Practice Forward learning modules.
4. Educate and engage clients. Distribute tax alerts, host Q&A sessions, and share planning guides. Use the time at year-end to build client confidence and establish advisory relationships.
5. Package and deliver strategically. Create repeatable service offerings — for example, OBBBA Planning Bundle — and standardize pricing and delivery with Practice Forward templates.
6. Track performance metrics. Monitor opportunity identification, engagement conversion, and revenue per client. Adjust outreach and offerings based on what’s working.

Your roadmap to advisory success

Firms that prepare now by aligning their people, processes, and technology around advisory services can emerge stronger, more profitable, and more differentiated in the market. By integrating Practice Forward and Ready to Advise, you can address today’s compliance demands while building tomorrow’s advisory practice.

With year-end planning already in motion, the firms that move quickly to implement an advisory-driven approach will gain a competitive edge by meeting urgent client needs while expanding their influence and impact. This is your opportunity to transition from tax preparer to trusted advisor, while elevating your firm’s value and unlocking revenue potential.

Begin your journey to advisory success with Practice Forward and Ready to Advise to build a scalable, strategic advisory model that delivers measurable ROI both now and into the future.