Holistiplan reads the return.

Rivalta runs the household. Here is what each produced.

Holistiplan 2025 Tax Report sample set — Accumulator / Professor / Retiree personas, distributed by Holistiplan as marketing material Engine: Rivalta Tax vertical — one of six Run time: 19 min 36 sec – 24 min 38 sec wall clock per household

Their full product, per persona

Holistiplan / tax-return reader

Recommendations produced Templated observation list (~10–15 items)
Templated observations surfaced ~10–15
Cross-domain conflicts surfaced as first-class output Not a section in the published report
Time-bound triggers (window-dated calls to action) Not a section in the published report
Alternatives considered & rejected with reasons Not a section in the published report
Demographic-adaptive strategy selection Observation-list section follows the same template across the three sample reports

One of Rivalta's six, across all three personas

Rivalta / Tax vertical, solo

Specialist agents per run 8
Recommendations (Accumulator / Professor / Retiree) 9 / 12 / 10
Cross-domain conflicts (per run) 14 / 14 / 14
Time-bound triggers (per run) 2 / 4 / 2
Alternatives considered and rejected with reasons 24 / 25 / 24
Domains covered Tax (+ 5 more available)

Holistiplan's three sample reports follow the same template — key figures, MAGI table, bracket chart, then an observation list. The Accumulator and Retiree reports use the same template structure; the dollar values differ per persona. Below: a representative recommendation that fired only for that demographic in the Rivalta Tax vertical, alongside the corresponding observation Holistiplan surfaced.

Persona 1

Accumulator household

Austin & Lila, MFJ, mid-30s, 3 kids, dual-earner with Schedule C, 22% bracket

AGI: $171,237
Schedule C: $75,900 (Lila)
Total tax: $19,192
Posture: Accumulating, pre-Roth-phaseout

Holistiplan observation

“You are in the 22% marginal bracket. Depending on your age and income projections, you might consider a Roth conversion.”

Rivalta Tax recommendation s

Maximize W-2 401(k) Elective Deferral to Capture Full Employer Match

Increase pre-tax elective deferrals to the 2025 §402(g) limit of $23,500, capturing the full 4% employer match (~$3,840) on the $96,000 W-2 salary. Reduces taxable W-2 income dollar-for-dollar on top of a guaranteed employer-funded contribution.

Retirement agent · confidence 0.90
Texas Franchise (Margin) Tax Review for Proposed S-Corp Election

The proposed S-Corp election on $75,900 of Schedule C income would still fall under the Texas franchise (margin) tax — a gross-receipts-based levy with its own "no tax due" threshold, separate from the state's lack of personal income tax. The restructuring stays state-tax-neutral in substance, but the new compliance obligation must be budgeted into the net SE-tax savings calculation.

State agent · confidence 0.80
Coordinated Roth Conversion with QBI Deduction Preservation

A Roth conversion of ~$58,000 can fill the 22% bracket without triggering the QBI deduction's income-based phase-out, letting the household lock in tax-free growth while still claiming the full $15,180 QBI deduction — a combined benefit worth $3,340/yr.

Synthesis agent · confidence 0.95

Persona 2

Professor household

Peter & Paula, MFJ, age 50, 2 kids, professor + Schedule C consulting, 22% bracket near top, itemizes

AGI: $242,757
Schedule C: $52,900 (Paula)
Roth conversion: $25,000 in-year
Posture: Pre-retirement, NIIT-adjacent

Holistiplan observation

“Form 8606 reports after-tax basis in at least one retirement account. This basis reduces the amount of taxable income generated from a Roth conversion or normal distribution.”

Rivalta Tax recommendation s

Reduce Modified AGI Below the Net Investment Income Tax Threshold via Retirement Plan Contributions

MAGI currently sits ~$15,995 above the $250,000 MFJ NIIT threshold, exposing $22,000 of investment income to the 3.8% surtax under §1411. Directing Solo 401(k) employee deferrals — which reduce AGI dollar-for-dollar without touching the QBI base — into that $15,995 gap eliminates the NIIT exposure entirely for the current year.

Income agent · confidence 0.70
Donor-Advised Fund Funding with Appreciated Securities (Multi-Year Bunch)

Fund a donor-advised fund with ~$30,000 FMV of appreciated stock (basis $10,500, embedded LTCG $19,500) instead of continuing $10,000/yr cash checks — the DAF sponsor sells tax-free and the family retains multi-year grant privileges. Timed against the Roth conversion year, the higher marginal rate on the converted income makes the deduction worth an incremental ~$864/yr (~$12,960 over the planning horizon).

Charitable agent · confidence 0.88
Net Savings Adjustment: Solo 401(k) and QBI

Establishing a Solo 401(k) is highly beneficial, but the employer contribution portion reduces the owner's Qualified Business Income (QBI) — slightly diminishing the value of both the retirement contribution and the QBI deduction. Net savings are positive but less than the sum of the parts considered independently.

Synthesis agent · confidence 0.98

Persona 3

Retiree household

Robert & Roxanne, MFJ, age 72, both over 70.5, MFJ, 10% bracket, $0 total tax, $68K Social Security

AGI: $72,775
Taxable income: $26,075
LT capital gains: $10,000 (0% bracket)
Posture: Pre-RMD, QCD-eligible

Holistiplan observation

“You both are over the age of 70.5 and thus are eligible to make tax-free Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from IRAs to qualifying charitable organizations.”

Rivalta Tax recommendation s

Prioritize QCD over Roth Conversion to Mitigate IRMAA Risk

At age 72, a large Roth conversion stacked on top of the Required Minimum Distribution risks pushing Medicare premiums into a higher IRMAA tier. QCDs — excluded from income entirely — should satisfy the RMD first, lowering both income tax and IRMAA exposure before any conversion is sized.

Synthesis agent · confidence 0.63
Qualified Charitable Distribution Sized to Actual Charitable Intent

Once RMDs begin at 73, route the couple's actual $4,000/yr charitable giving as a QCD from the IRA rather than cash — cash gifts currently yield zero benefit against the $30,750 standard deduction (itemized is $0). The QCD excludes the $4,000 from AGI entirely and counts toward the RMD.

Retirement agent · confidence 0.85
Roth Conversion to Fill 12% Bracket (IRMAA-Coordinated)

Convert a portion of the $1,050,000 traditional IRA to Roth in the current year, targeting the top of the 12% bracket (~$54,925 of conversion capacity given $72,775 gross income and the $30,750 MFJ standard deduction). Locks in a low rate before RMDs and Social Security begin.

Income agent · confidence 0.87

Cross-domain conflicts the engine surfaced.

A tax tool that reads a return reports what's on the return. A tax engine that runs against the household model reports what happens when two strategies move the same lever. Rivalta surfaces 14 cross-domain interactions per persona as first-class output. Holistiplan's product surface is the tax-return observation list; the cross-domain interaction layer is what Rivalta's category is built to produce.

Threshold interaction

A Roth conversion that fills the current bracket can push the QBI deduction into its §199A phase-out, costing the small-business deduction it was trying to optimize. The two strategies move the same MAGI lever in opposite directions and must be solved together. Fired on Accumulator and Professor.
Timing conflict

Charitable bunching maximizes itemized-deduction value in the bunched year; income deferral or acceleration maximizes bracket placement. Bunching a year where income is being deferred wastes the deduction against a low bracket. Fired on Professor and Retiree.
Structural override

A SALT-driven PTE election is mutually exclusive with a C-Corp conversion: PTE elections only apply to pass-through entities. The two SALT and Entity agents must reconcile before either ships. Fired on Accumulator and Professor.
Structural collision

For the Accumulator, one lever drives three outcomes at once: electing S-Corp status saves ~$4,918/yr in SE tax, but the same reasonable-salary carve-out collapses the Mega Backdoor Roth's $56,430 after-tax contribution room by $4,607 and shrinks the QBI base. No pairwise check catches it — modeled end-to-end, the ~$205,000 lifetime mega-backdoor value dwarfs the ~$40,000 lifetime SE-tax savings, so the sole-proprietorship path wins. Fired on Accumulator.
Bracket coupling

For the Retiree, a Roth conversion sized to 'fill the 12% bracket' also pushes the $10,000 long-term gain out of the 0% band into 15%, raises the taxable share of Social Security, and — two years out — risks a higher IRMAA tier once RMDs layer on top. The QCD is the only lever that reduces MAGI, but it's capped at the couple's actual $4,000/yr giving, so it can't fully offset the conversion. Reconciling the true combined marginal rate takes a single integrated model, not four independent estimates. Fired on Retiree.

Time-bound triggers.

Calendar windows in which a decision must be made or expire. Rivalta surfaces these as time-bound triggers. Holistiplan's report renders snapshot bracket and MAGI information against the return year; window-bound decisions are surfaced through the advisor's planning workflow, not as a report section.

AMT Exposure Risk · Accumulator + Professor

Both households' income profiles suggest potential AMT exposure — Alternative Minimum Tax applies when the AMT tentative minimum tax exceeds regular tax liability, commonly triggered by large SALT deductions, ISO exercises, tax-exempt private-activity-bond interest, or large miscellaneous deductions. The Income agent must calculate AMT exposure for each household; if it applies, ISO timing, deduction timing, and income acceleration/deferral all need to be re-evaluated over a multi-year horizon.
Roth Conversion Window · Retiree

The Retiree sits in the critical Roth conversion window (age 65-72) — typically the lowest-income period between retirement and RMD start, and the best time to convert at a low marginal rate before RMDs force higher income. The Retirement agent models a multi-year conversion ladder to minimize the traditional IRA balance before age 73; each $100K converted now avoids roughly $4K-$5K/yr of forced RMD income for 20+ years.
SALT Cap Exceeded · Professor

State and local taxes paid exceed the $10,000 SALT deduction cap under TCJA — the excess produces zero federal benefit unless a PTE election or other workaround is in place. The SALT agent must evaluate PTE-election availability and quantify the federal tax savings; if PTE isn't available, domicile-change feasibility and charitable state-tax-credit strategies come into play.
Roth Conversion Year-End Deadline · Professor + Retiree

Roth conversions must close by December 31 of the tax year — unlike IRA contributions, they can't be backdated, and the optimal amount depends on final-year income. Income and Retirement agents need to finalize the income projection by November so the conversion fills the bracket without spilling into a higher rate or triggering IRMAA surcharges.

What the engine ruled out.

Across the three personas, the Tax vertical considered and explicitly rejected 73 alternative strategies with reasoning attached — the artifact a compliance reviewer reads to see why a thing was not done. Holistiplan's published output is an observation list and a planning checklist; the rejected-alternative reasoning surface is what Rivalta's category produces as a first-class artifact.

Defer business income by delaying year-end invoicing (Accumulator) rejected: TCJA rates are now permanent under OBBB, so there's no expected future rate drop — deferral without a rate difference is only a one-year timing shuffle, not real savings
Bunch charitable contributions to exceed the standard deduction (Accumulator) rejected: only $1,200 of current giving against a $30,000 MFJ standard deduction — would need a three- to four-fold increase in itemizable spending to clear the threshold
Shift unearned income to minor children (Accumulator) rejected: all three kids are subject to the kiddie tax, taxing unearned income above $2,600 at the parents' marginal rate — no rate arbitrage since the parents are already at 22%
Elect S-Corp status immediately to capture SE-tax savings (Accumulator) rejected: forecloses the Mega Backdoor Roth's ~$205,000 lifetime value to secure only ~$40,000 in lifetime SE-tax savings
Health Savings Account contributions (Accumulator) rejected for now: contingent on a qualifying high-deductible health plan, which isn't established in the current facts — revisit if HDHP enrollment is confirmed
Keep the Schedule C as a sole proprietorship to preserve the full QBI deduction (Professor) rejected: preserving the full $10,580 QBI deduction saves ~$1,164 more than the S-Corp's reduced QBI base, but forgoes the entire ~$3,428/yr SE-tax savings — nets the client ~$2,264/yr worse off
Execute the full $34,000 Roth conversion and abandon NIIT avoidance (Professor) rejected: forfeits the $608 NIIT saving for no offsetting benefit the conversion couldn't also capture by timing differently
Increase the Roth conversion to $137,000 to match the DAF's assumption (Professor) rejected: blows through the 22% bracket and the QBI phase-out just to validate a stale planning assumption
Original $120,000 single-year Roth conversion (Retiree) rejected: only ~$54,925 of 12%-bracket capacity exists — a $120,000 conversion spills deep into the 22% bracket and crosses IRMAA thresholds
$40,000/yr QCD program (Retiree) rejected: actual charitable intent is only $4,000/yr — a QCD can't exceed genuine giving, so the strategy was resized rather than run at the originally assumed volume
Convert the full ladder now, before relocating out of state (Retiree) rejected: ~5% state tax on a $120,000 ladder (~$6,000) can equal or exceed the incremental federal benefit, and the same bracket-filling is achievable after the move
Suspend all Roth conversions to guarantee MAGI stays low (Retiree) rejected: sacrifices the ~$66,740 lifetime benefit of the coordinated QCD-plus-conversion plan; IRMAA is manageable through annual sizing instead

+ 61 additional alternatives in the full result blobs across the three personas, each with reasoning.

Tax was one of six.

Everything above came from Tax alone. Each of these households sits inside the addressable surface of five other specialist verticals we deploy. Each one is built the same way Tax is: a panel of specialist agents, intra-domain synthesis, documented rejected alternatives, and a result that lands as a coherent plan.

Tax Strategy 8 agents · the one you saw

Everything on this page. Nine, twelve, ten recommendations across three personas. Conflicts caught, triggers surfaced, alternatives reasoned through.

Wealth 10 agents · production

Would model the Accumulator's accumulation schedule against college funding and home-purchase capacity, the Professor's pre-retirement glidepath against the 403(b)/457(b) coordination, and the Retiree's drawdown sequencing across the full 32-year plan.

Estate & Trust 8 agents · production

Would surface the Professor's beneficiary-designation audit on the $816K of qualified-plan balances under the SECURE Act 10-year rule, and the Retiree's revocable-trust + Lady-Bird-deed package before the IRA gets named to the kids.

Insurance 8 agents · production

Would close the Accumulator's term-life adequacy gap against earnings replacement for 3 dependents, evaluate the Professor's group LTD against post-tax income, and price LTC coverage for the Retiree before underwriting closes.

Business & Real Estate 9 agents · production

Would own Lila's Schedule C entity election (sole-prop vs LLC vs S-Corp at scale), Paula's rental property's basis + depreciation schedule + cost-seg feasibility, and any future real-estate purchases the households are evaluating.

Trade 7 agents · production

Does not fire for households without active trading or concentrated positions. The Accumulator's $145K in mostly cash-and-bonds, the Professor's diversified $1.18M in dividends, and the Retiree's bond-heavy drawdown don't trigger Trade. For active traders with option books or RSU stacks, Trade reads the position book and surfaces bias-aware behavioral signals against the household's tax plan.

Then there is Concord.

When more than one vertical runs on the same household, their recommendations interact. A Tax-optimal strategy competes for cash with an Insurance-optimal one. An Estate-optimal sequence competes for timing with a Wealth-optimal one. Concord is the cross-vertical reconciliation layer that resolves these. It is patent-pending, and it is one of the eleven claims that describe the architecture.

The numbers in the scoreboard above reflect what the Tax vertical alone surfaced on this household. Concord runs across the full financial cluster — Wealth, Tax, Estate, Insurance, Business & Real Estate. The reconciled plan is what reaches the client.

Read how Concord works

Not a price comparison. A category comparison.

Holistiplan is a good tax-return reader and they price it as one. Rivalta is a multi-domain reasoning engine and we price it as one. The buyer who treats these as competing options at different price points is making a category error.

Holistiplan

~$249 /seat/month

Job-to-be-done

Read a client's most-recent tax return PDF. Surface key figures, MAGI position against ~25 phase-out thresholds, bracket-room, and a templated observation list. Output a one-page summary the advisor can hand to the client.

Output shape

A two-to-four-page report dominated by extracted tax-return data and a flat observation list. Same shape every time.

Domain

Tax-return observation.

Rivalta

$999/seat/month

Pro tier — see Firm tier

Job-to-be-done

Take the household's full financial life as input. Run six specialist verticals on it. Reconcile the conflicts that arise when the domains interact. Hand the professional a single coherent plan with reasoning, rejected alternatives, and the time-bound windows that drive it.

Output shape

A live Dossier with demographic-adaptive recommendations, conflict cards, rejected-alternative reasoning, sequenced execution plan, and a Concord pass that turns cross-vertical interactions into professional-decidable choices.

Domains

Wealth + Tax + Estate & Trust + Insurance + Trade + Business & Real Estate.

~4× the unit price. Six domains, not one. Reasoning, not observation. A different shelf in the store.

So what did this page show?

That on the exact three personas Holistiplan put in their published samples, one of our six verticals — running nineteen to twenty-five minutes per household — produced thirty-one recommendations across three different demographics, considered seventy-three alternatives across the three runs, and surfaced forty-two cross-domain interactions and eight time-bound triggers. Holistiplan publishes the same three personas with a templated tax-return-observation report; the two artifacts are different categories of output.

That was one sixth of the platform. The other five verticals deploy on the same household. Concord reconciles them into one plan. Holistiplan is a tax-return reader; Rivalta is a multi-domain reasoning system. They do not do the same job.

1 of 6 verticals shown
31 recommendations across 3 personas
42 cross-domain conflicts
8 calendar triggers
73 alternatives considered

If you are picking between Holistiplan at ~$249 and Rivalta at $999, you are picking between a tax-return reader and a multi-domain reasoning system. They do not do the same job. The price tells you that.

See Sample Dossier

Sources. Holistiplan 2025 Tax Report sample set — “Austin and Lila Accumulator,” “Peter and Paula Professor,” “Robert and Roxanne Retiree” — distributed by Holistiplan as marketing material. Rivalta output produced 2026-05-12 by the Tax vertical against three independent household profiles reverse-engineered to match each Holistiplan persona's tax-return facts. Re-issued 2026-07-12: all Rivalta figures re-produced by a fresh Tax-vertical run on the same household inputs; the original run date and figures are superseded by this dated re-issue.

Numbers. Recommendation count, rejected-alternative count, conflict count, and trigger count read directly from the result blobs produced by the Rivalta Tax vertical for each household.

Disclosure. This is comparative-advertising material. Rivalta is not affiliated with Holistiplan. The numbers shown represent one run of one analysis per household; production output for actual clients varies with profile completeness and the firm's seat tier.