"With the rise of comprehensive wealth management, it is increasingly common for clients to pay a single bundled AUM fee that covers not only deductible investment management services but also non-deductible planning expenses. Technically, though, those clients should probably only be deducting a portion of the AUM fee, not the entire amount -- at least where the AUM fee covers a material amount of planning services. The issue is especially concerning when it comes to retirement accounts such as IRAs, where paying a personal financial planning fee with retirement assets could trigger a taxable deemed distribution, or even disqualify the entire IRA as a prohibited transaction.... [F]or some firms, unbundling fees can present challenges in communicating the value of their services."  MORE >>