No commissions, no ads, no advice. This Avantax profile draws only on public records, each linked so you can confirm it yourself.

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The short answer: is Avantax a fiduciary?

Yes. Avantax is a fiduciary when it acts as your investment adviser. Publicly, it files with the SEC as Avantax Planning Partners (CRD #106237). According to its latest Form ADV (filed June 18, 2026), the firm reported $7.6 billion in regulatory assets under management (a firm-reported figure). All of it sits on the public record, and confirming it for yourself takes only a few minutes.

The same filing reports that a related person is a broker-dealer (Item 7.A), and brokerage accounts fall under Regulation Best Interest instead. Ask which capacity covers each of your accounts. The firm must tell you. Our view: get that answer in writing, account by account, before you weigh any Avantax review. Get started with Truthifi

What "fiduciary" means: a fiduciary is legally bound to place a client's interests above its own. (More on fiduciary duty)

Avantax at a glance

✅ Verified from public filings, last checked October 5, 2026. Avantax (SEC CRD #106237) is a fiduciary when acting as your adviser, on an advisory-fee basis, with $7.6 billion in regulatory assets under management. Every figure below links to its primary source.

What	Avantax	Source
SEC CRD	#106237	IAPD
Registration	Investment adviser, with a related person that is a broker-dealer (Form ADV Item 7.A)	IAPD
Registered since	January 17, 1996 (SEC)	IAPD
Fiduciary?	Yes, when acting as your adviser	SEC adviser standard
Fee model	Advisory fees (no commissions reported in Item 5.E)	Form ADV Item 5.E
How it's paid	A percentage of assets under management, hourly charges, and fixed fees	Form ADV Item 5.E
Regulatory Assets Under Management	$7.6 billion (Form ADV filed June 18, 2026)	IAPD
Client accounts	13,797 (13,793 discretionary)	IAPD
Employees	261 (200 in advisory roles)	IAPD
Ownership	Parent-owned	Form ADV Schedule A
Disclosures	Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary questions. Read them on IAPD	IAPD
HQ	Dubuque, IA	IAPD

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Avantax fees: what you'll pay

Avantax charges advisory fees: according to its Form ADV (Item 5.E), it reports no commissions for its advisory services. The filing also reports broker-dealer, insurance or other sales activity by the firm or a related company, business that can be paid by commissions. Ask how each part of the relationship is paid. The details are in its Form ADV Part 2A. Of the three pay methods in the table above, the percentage-of-assets fee is the one that grows as your balance grows, so it is the one to pin down first. Get started with Truthifi

Advisory fees are what clients pay the adviser directly. Commissions earned through a related broker-dealer or insurance business are a separate source of pay.

Who owns Avantax, and what conflicts does it disclose?

Avantax is owned by Avantax WM Holdings, Inc., according to Schedule A of its Form ADV. (Form ADV Schedule A)

For conflicts, Part 2A of that Form ADV describes them, including how the firm and its advisers are paid.

Avantax SEC record: disclosures

According to its Form ADV, Avantax answers Yes to one or more disciplinary-history questions. A disclosure can be a regulatory, civil or criminal matter involving the firm or a related person. Read each item in context on IAPD before drawing conclusions. Whatever Avantax disclosures exist live on the public record. Read them there, in context, rather than secondhand.

The firm has been registered with the SEC since January 17, 1996. According to its Form ADV, it reports 261 employees, 200 of them in investment advisory roles. Whether Avantax is legit starts with that registration: a public CRD and filings anyone can pull. That confirms it's a real, regulated adviser. Whether it's right for you is a separate question.

Reading Avantax reviews against the public record

Star ratings and client comments describe what working with a firm felt like. They usually don't show what the firm reports to regulators. Before you weigh Avantax reviews, set them against three points from this profile. Start with pay: the firm reports advisory fees and no commissions, yet it has a broker-dealer or insurance connection. Next, look at ownership by Avantax WM Holdings and the conflicts Part 2A discloses. Finally, note that its Form ADV answers Yes on disciplinary history. Read reviews alongside the record, not instead of it.

How to verify Avantax yourself

IAPD holds everything above; check it in this order:

1. Check the SEC adviser record (IAPD): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/106237.
2. Read the filings (Form ADV / Form CRS): linked from the IAPD page.
3. Confirm the entity: match Avantax (CRD #106237, legal name AVANTAX PLANNING PARTNERS, INC.) so you're reading the right firm.

What Avantax does and who it serves

On its Form ADV, Avantax reports providing financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, small businesses and institutions, pension consulting, and selection of other advisers.

It reports providing financial planning to about 2,500 clients in its last fiscal year, according to Form ADV Item 5.H. That count answers a different question from the Item 5.D table below, and the same clients may appear in both, so the two figures shouldn't be added together.

Item 5.D of the same Form ADV breaks its clients down by type, about 8,370 in all:

Client type	Clients	Assets managed
Individuals	6,299	$1.62 billion
High-net-worth individuals	1,216	$3.58 billion
Pension and profit-sharing plans	591	$2.16 billion
Charities	153	$49.6 million
Corporations or other businesses	111	$152.5 million

One pattern stands out. The 1,216 high-net-worth clients hold $3.58 billion, more than twice the $1.62 billion held for 6,299 individual clients. Under a percentage-of-assets fee, that suggests a small group of larger clients likely drives much of the firm's advisory revenue.

It reports 13,797 client accounts, more than the roughly 8,370 clients counted above (many clients hold more than one account), 13,793 discretionary (the firm can trade without seeking your approval first) and 4 non-discretionary (Item 5.F). Put plainly, nearly every Avantax account can be traded without a call to you first. With a related broker-dealer in the picture, that makes it worth asking where trades are placed and who is paid on them. Its main office is in Dubuque, IA.

It reports that it or a related person has custody of certain client assets, which brings extra safeguards such as surprise examinations. The specifics are in its Form ADV.

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The hard part isn't checking the firm. It's seeing your whole financial life.

Confirming Avantax is registered takes a few minutes. Seeing what you pay across its advisory side, its related broker-dealer and any insurance products is harder, because those can show up on separate statements. Your Avantax adviser may see only the accounts held through the firm, while an old IRA or a spouse's portfolio elsewhere often sits outside that view. This is where Truthifi comes in.

How Truthifi can help

Truthifi links your accounts read-only and shows what you own, how it's allocated, how it's performing and where the risk sits, including single-stock exposure, returns next to a benchmark, a fee breakdown of the fees on each account, by type, and your Truthifi Score. You can share the accounts you choose with your advisor at Avantax. Get started with Truthifi

Already use an AI assistant such as Claude? A paid Truthifi plan can connect it to your read-only account data, and Truthifi Connect explains how that works. To ask it about the fees on each account, choose a Monitoring plan; the pricing page shows what each one includes. Get started with Truthifi · See how Truthifi keeps your accounts secure

Ask AI about your Avantax accounts

Once your accounts are connected read-only, you can ask in plain English:

• "What do I own across my Avantax accounts and everything else, and how is it allocated?"
• "What am I paying in fees on these accounts, including anything tied to Avantax's broker-dealer or insurance business?"

Try it with Truthifi: start for free at app.truthifi.com and run a Monitoring Checkup (limits apply).

No commissions, no ads, no advice: Truthifi is not an investment adviser and doesn't give investment, tax or legal advice. Its access to your bank and brokerage accounts is read-only. Start free (limits apply). Monitoring Checkup is free. Link up to 10 connections, per Truthifi's published plan limits. Plans and limits are on the pricing page → truthifi.com.

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FAQ

Is Avantax a fiduciary? Yes, when acting as your adviser. Its Form ADV reports a related person that is a broker-dealer, and brokerage accounts fall under Regulation Best Interest instead. Ask which capacity covers each of your accounts.

Is Avantax fee-only? Not necessarily. Its Form ADV (Item 5.E) reports no commissions for advisory services, but the filing also reports broker-dealer, insurance or other sales activity by the firm or a related company, which can be paid differently. Ask how everyone you deal with is paid. The details are in its Form ADV Part 2A.

Who owns Avantax? Avantax is owned by Avantax WM Holdings, Inc., as listed in Schedule A of its Form ADV.

Does Avantax have complaints or disclosures? Yes. Its Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary-history questions. Read each item on IAPD, in context. A disclosure is not by itself proof of current wrongdoing.

Is Avantax legit? Avantax is registered with the SEC (CRD #106237) and its filings are public on the SEC's IAPD site, which confirms it is a real, regulated firm. Registration doesn't tell you whether it's the right fit or what you'll pay, so read the fee and conflict sections of its Form ADV.

Can AI help me check whether I'm getting good value? Yes. Start free (limits apply): Monitoring Checkup is free and lets you link up to 10 connections. You can also connect an AI assistant you already use (such as Claude). On Monitoring or Monitoring Plus+ you can ask it, in plain English, about the fees on each of your accounts. Truthifi is not an investment adviser and doesn't give investment, tax or legal advice.

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About this profile

Truthifi built this profile from the firm's own SEC filings (Form ADV and, where filed, Form CRS). Every page is reviewed by the Truthifi Team before publishing. The Truthifi advisor fact packs are an ongoing series checking U.S. investment advisers against their public filings, one firm at a time.

Read next from the Truthifi blog

• What is a fiduciary?
• Fee-only financial advisor: costs and how to find one
• Are you paying too much? Why that might be the wrong question
• How to ask AI about your real investment accounts
• Robo-advisor vs. human financial advisor: which is better?
• All advisor fact packs on Truthifi

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A note on sources. The facts on this page come from publicly available documents, Avantax's SEC filings, each linked inline so you can verify it yourself (SEC data current as of October 5, 2026). This is general information, not financial or legal advice, and Truthifi is not affiliated with Avantax. Regulatory records change, so always confirm against the official sources linked above. Spot something that should be corrected? Email us at support@truthifi.com.

Advisers refile Form ADV at least once a year, so the next Avantax filing is worth setting beside this one. A shift in its assets, account counts or disciplinary answers between filings can tell you more than any single snapshot.