The OBBBA tax data test for middle market businesses

As the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) changes the economics of business decisions, leaders need timely tax insights to identify planning opportunities, evaluate alternatives and understand how different decisions affect cash flow, financing needs and expected returns.

In a middle market that has grown significantly more complex over the last 15 years, those insights can help organizations direct capital more effectively. They can also clarify how a potential decision may affect cash flow and enterprise value.

The RSM Q2 2026 Middle Market Business Index (MMBI) survey shows middle market businesses actively evaluating opportunities tied to the legislation, including capital investments, innovation initiatives, acquisitions and entity-structure changes. Each of those decisions can involve multiple tax considerations that affect expected cash flow and returns.

The breadth of those strategic considerations places new demands on leaders and teams responsible for tax and finance. Supporting business planning across the organization requires access to relevant information and the capacity to analyze it before resources are committed.

How data fragmentation limits modeling of OBBBA tax provisions

Many of the OBBBA provisions do not operate in isolation. For example, a decision to invest in equipment or expand research activities may require an organization to evaluate several provisions under its specific facts and circumstances. Their interaction can change the expected cash flow or return.

Doing that analysis requires tax, financial and operational information from across the business. Fragmentation makes it harder to compare options before capital is deployed.

“Companies often don’t have the data in the right place at the right time to really understand the levers and the impact on the business,” says Matt Bradvica, RSM partner and the firm’s tax digital strategy leader. “It’s about seeing the data in the business in real time to make strategic decisions.”

That visibility allows leaders to examine the tax effects alongside the financing assumptions and business objectives behind a proposed capital project.

The same principle applies to an acquisition or a change in operating structure. It can also create a stronger foundation for technologies such as AI. RSM's 2026 AI survey found data quality and integration challenges among the most common barriers to scaling AI initiatives, reinforcing the importance of connected, reliable information.

Overcoming tax capacity constraints: Automation, AI and workflows

Access to tax, financial and operational information is only part of the equation, though. Tax teams and business leaders also need the capacity to interpret it and apply specialized knowledge while business decisions are still being shaped.

That capacity can be difficult to preserve. Tax professionals are often expected to support more planning activity while continuing to meet their compliance and reporting responsibilities.

Business leaders evaluating competing courses of action often need specialized tax knowledge before making key decisions. The ability to apply the right expertise at the right point in the decision-making process often matters as much as staffing levels.

Tax professionals may possess that expertise but have little time to use it when data gathering and manual work consume much of their day. Recurring obligations can create the same constraint. By the time their analysis reaches business leaders, the company may have committed resources or at least narrowed its options.

Automation and emerging AI tools may help reduce some of that effort. "We see many tax professionals spending too much time gathering, cleaning and organizing information rather than analyzing it," says Brad Collins, RSM principal and tax digital services go-to-market leader. "When technology can take on more of that repetitive work, it creates more opportunity for people to focus on the judgment and modeling that support good decisions."

Ultimately, while tax analysis still has value after a decision is made, its greatest value comes earlier, when leaders can use it to compare possible courses of action and make an informed choice based on their after-tax outcomes.

Aligning tax capabilities with strategic decision timelines

Organizations can begin by identifying which business decisions require tax insight and the factors that prevent tax professionals from delivering that insight when leaders need it.

The limiting factors will vary by organization. One organization may lack ready access to information. Another may have specialists whose time is largely consumed by manual work or recurring responsibilities. Some tax professionals or teams may need stronger capabilities for scenario modeling and evaluating how different business decisions affect after-tax outcomes.

The solution should fit the constraint. An organization whose information is distributed across disconnected systems or entities may need to make tax, financial and operational data easier to access. If professionals spend substantial time gathering and reconciling that information, then process redesign, automation and AI-enabled workflows may create room for scenario modeling and business planning.

Recurring obligations present a different question. Leaders may need to reconsider which work should remain with the internal team and where outside providers could add capacity.

Many organizations appear to be supplementing internal capabilities with outside expertise. In the MMBI survey, 47% of senior executives familiar with the OBBBA said they had discussed benefits of the legislation with investment or financial advisors, while 45% said they had consulted tax advisors.

Each approach should improve tax leaders’ and teams’ ability to analyze the decisions the business faces. Tax professionals may need to model competing scenarios or evaluate the interaction among several provisions. Business leaders gain more useful insight when tax professionals can show how changes in key assumptions affect the outcomes.

Technology can support that work, as can process and operating-model changes. Their effectiveness comes down to a practical test: Can tax provide relevant analysis before the company commits capital or otherwise narrows its options?

Matching tax capabilities to the demands of business planning can give leaders a clearer view of the available choices while there is still time to act.

How proactive tax analysis maximizes return on capital

Leaders considering an OBBBA-influenced opportunity need to understand its after-tax economics and how the relevant provisions interact. They also need to know whether a change in assumptions would alter the investment business case or create consequences elsewhere in the organization.

The value of that insight depends in part on timing. Early analysis may show that a different financing approach improves an investment’s expected return. It could also expose an unanticipated tax cost arising from an operating decision.

In other cases, the analysis may show that the company’s capital would produce a stronger return elsewhere.

Tax professionals equipped to provide that analysis can help leaders compare opportunities more comprehensively before committing resources. Their contribution is measured by the clarity they bring to the decision and whether the business still has time to act on their insights.