Business & Tax Law Advisor

09/22/2026

Business owners:

Do you know what your business is worth?

Have you thought about what it's like to sell your business?

Do you know what buyers are looking for?

Join us for our upcoming Exit Planning Workshop on October 15, 3 - 4:30 pm at our Scottsdale office, where you'll hear from M&A lawyers & CPAs, who have conducted hundreds of business transactions.

https://bit.ly/HKexitplan

09/18/2026

Who wore it best?

09/13/2026

Are noncompetes enforceable?

Sometimes.

The FTC’s proposed nationwide ban from 2024 never took effect. A federal court struck the rule down, and the FTC later dropped its appeal.

So in many states (like Arizona), noncompetes are still governed largely by state law.

A noncompete generally has the most teeth when:

👉 You’re preventing an employee from actively competing while still employed.

👉 You’re protecting a legitimate business interest after employment, such as customer relationships, goodwill, confidential information, or trade secrets.

👉 The restriction is reasonable in duration, geography, and scope.

👉 The noncompete is connected to the sale of a business or goodwill. These are generally much stronger than ordinary employee restrictions.

What usually does not work? A restriction whose real purpose is simply: “I don’t want my former employee competing with me.” You generally must show that allowing the person to compete against you would be unfair competition (not just competition itself) due to them using your customer lists, proprietary processes, tools, trade secrets, etc.

On the contrary, nonsolicitation and confidentiality restrictions generally remain in effect after employment and are often easier to enforce than a broad noncompete (if reasonable).

✍️ Nonsolicitation: A nonsolicitation clause generally prevents a former employee from soliciting the company’s clients, customers, or employees for a defined period after leaving.

✍️ Confidentiality: A confidentiality clause prohibits an employee or former employee from using or disclosing the company’s confidential, proprietary, or trade secret information.

What you need to know: noncompetes are not dead. But broad, one-size-fits-all restrictions are much harder to defend.

09/12/2026

Cool legal projects that came in today:

🔨 Formation of fund & SEC registration for restaurant concept

🔨 Help professional services firm draft foundational contracts

🔨 M&A deal referred from our top national broker

🔨 Preparation for sale of accounting firm

🔨 Production-based compensation structuring for medical practice

09/11/2026

10 tax strategies most business owners can take advantage before year-end:

1️⃣ Maximize retirement contributions through a 401(k), SEP, DB plan, or similar vehicle

2️⃣ Set up an accountable plan to properly reimburse yourself for legitimate business expenses you’re paying personally (including expenses that are mixed personal & business like mileage, travel, cell phone, meals, and certain home-office costs)

3️⃣ Hire your kids or other family members for legitimate work and shift income to family members who may be in lower tax brackets

4️⃣ Review your entity structure and compensation strategy to make sure you’re not unnecessarily overpaying self-employment or payroll taxes

5️⃣ Buy things you need before year-end and defer payments due to you until Jan 1 (e.g., vehicles / equipment, inventory, bonuses, prepaid professional services)

6️⃣ Optimize the 20% QBI deduction by reviewing wages, taxable income, entity structure, retirement contributions, and other planning variables

7️⃣ Optimize health insurance costs so the business is deducting as much as legally allowed (e.g., HSA, HRA, S Corp owner premiums)

8️⃣ Use cost segregation on qualifying real estate to accelerate depreciation into earlier years

9️⃣ Bundle charitable giving into high-income years, potentially using a donor-advised fund or other charitable vehicle

🔟 Make sure every legitimate business expense is actually being captured through excellent bookkeeping

09/10/2026

If you're a business owner, your tax questions don't just come up at tax time.

You need someone on-call to make sure:

👉️ You are making good decisions in real-time, not after the fact

👉️ You handle IRS / state tax notices before penalties & interest build up

👉️ You're proactively managing your taxes, not just trying to catch up

👉️ ChatGPT is not leading you down the wrong path

There's a shift in the tax industry from:

👉️ A surprise bill due when your tax return finally gets filed ➡️ paying a fixed, all-inclusive subscription fee

👉️ Waiting to see how the year goes then paying what's due ➡️ knowing at all times what your tax bill is going to be and planning for it

👉️ Paying someone to file a report for stuff that happened a year ago ➡️ paying someone to plan for the future with your goals in mind

👉️ Being told what you can and can't do ➡️ becoming educated so you can stack strategies

09/09/2026

Things people assume about me as a tax lawyer:

👉️ I go to court

👉️ I negotiate down tax debt

👉️ I spend all day preparing tax returns

I've done all of the above, but here's where I live now, where I think the most value is, and what I enjoy most. I help business owners:

👉️ Protect their assets

👉️ Minimize taxes legally

👉️ Create systems & processes that make their lives easier

Tax controversy ≠ tax preparation ≠ tax strategy

Figure out what you actually need and hire the person who does that best.

09/08/2026

An advisor keeps you compliant.

A coach holds you accountable.

Knowing what to do ≠ actually doing it.

It's the difference between understanding what makes you healthy and hiring a personal trainer to make sure you get there.

It's making assignments. It's challenging you. It's following up. It's having a system to measure results and track progress. It's calling you out when you don't do it. It's motivating you in the ways you most positively respond. It's being there every step of the way, celebrating the wins, and enduring the disappointments.

Who are you to your clients / customers?

09/07/2026

09/05/2026

What are the crickets in your business?

The things that don’t stop chirping.

They’re hard to spot.

They’re constantly annoying you.

But they’re not urgent enough to be prioritized.

Growing up in Arizona, I’ve realized that where crickets are, scorpions soon will be.

What was once slightly annoying has now become terrifying.

Full body chills.

Hyper awareness of every step you take and every item you pick up.

Spending money on black lights and weapons of war.

Fortunately, crickets are easy to get rid of.

Scorpions, on the other hand, would survive a nuclear war.

Don’t let a cricket problem become a scorpion problem.