Also proposed is an outright ban on the “mega backdoor Roth” conversion using workplace retirement plans, which allowed high-income Americans to put $58,000 into a Roth account this year. If passed, that proposal would be effective next year.
All of these proposals would go along with new, higher capital gains and income tax brackets to increase taxes on high earners.
“One of the things that was a surprise was that the end of the step-up in basis wasn’t in the bill,” said Slott. “That’s because some Democrats were against it. They need 50 votes for this to go through, so anything extreme like ending the step-up in basis ... would have a hard time passing."
Slott recommended that advisors have a plan to act on behalf of their clients before the end of the year, noting that the last major tax legislation, 2019’s SECURE Act, went into effect 11 days after passage.
“We don’t want to wait until there’s a few days in the year to plan. We want to have things ready to go so we can react more quickly,” said Slott. “That’s all in the news, and there’s an opening to get out and get a conversation started. You have the opening to start talking about some solutions whether these things happen or not.”