August feels like a slower month. The inbox thins out. The pace drops.

But if you run a business, August is one of the most important planning windows of the year.

Here’s what many business owners don’t realize: the decisions you make right now, in the next 30 to 60 days, have an outsized impact on where you end up when December closes. Tax elections, insurance gaps, legal agreements, and financial structures that should be in place before October either become a smooth Q4 or a scramble you’ll regret.

This is the mid-year LIFT review. And if you haven’t done one yet, now is the window.

LIFT: Legal, Insurance, Financial And Tax Systems™ Review
What the LIFT Review Actually Is

The LIFT review covers the four pillars every business owner’s plan must address to ensure they aren’t working in silos.

Business owners often manage each area separately: an attorney handles the legal work, a broker handles insurance, an accountant handles taxes, and financial planning either falls to the owner or falls through the cracks. No one is looking at the full picture. And when something goes wrong in one area, it often traces back to a gap in another.

A LIFT review is a structured look across all four pillars at the same time. It’s how you find the gaps before they find you.

The bottom line: If no one on your team is looking at your legal, insurance, financial, and tax situation as a connected whole, something is falling through the cracks. The mid-year window is how you find out what it is before Q4 makes it urgent.

LIFT: Legal

Do Your Business Agreements Still Protect You?

The agreements that govern your business were written at a specific moment in time. Your business has changed since then.

If you have partners, your operating agreement needs to answer a specific question right now: what happens if one of you dies, becomes incapacitated, or wants out? A buy-sell agreement that isn’t funded or isn’t updated to reflect the current value of the business isn’t protecting you. It’s creating the illusion of protection.

If you’ve added team members, changed your service offerings, or brought on contractors, your underlying agreements need to reflect what you’re actually doing. Agreements that don’t reflect current operations may not address the situations that actually arise.

Ask yourself:

• When did someone last review your operating agreement?
• Is your buy-sell agreement funded, and does the funding match the current business value?
• Are your client and contractor agreements current and actually enforceable?
• Does your personal estate plan reflect what happens to your ownership interest if you die or become incapacitated?

The bottom line: Legal documents that don’t match your current business may not protect your current business. The mid-year window is the right time to close the gap before Q4 brings new activity and new exposure.

LIFT: Insurance

Does Your Coverage Still Match Your Risk?

Your business grew this year. Did your insurance coverage grow with it?

This is a consistent gap in business owner planning. Revenue climbs, the team expands, new equipment is purchased, and the insurance policy stays exactly where it was three years ago. When a loss occurs, outdated limits or exclusions may leave part of it uninsured.

The areas to review right now:

• Business liability: Revenue, headcount, service lines, and contract exposure all affect what you actually need. For illustration, what was adequate at $500,000 in revenue may leave real gaps at $1.5 million, but revenue alone doesn’t determine your exposure.
• Key person insurance: If something happened to you tomorrow, could the business survive financially during a transition? Does the payout still reflect your actual value to the business?
• Disability coverage: Income-replacement planning often underweights the risk of a short-term disability. If you couldn’t work for six months, what happens to revenue and to your family’s income?
• Business interruption: With supply chain disruptions and market volatility still unpredictable, business interruption coverage deserves a fresh look.

Year-end is a common renewal window. Review in August before the deadline puts you under pressure.

The bottom line: Inadequate coverage means the business carries risk that insurance was meant to transfer. What was right three years ago may leave gaps today.

LIFT: Financial

Is Your Foundation Solid Enough for What Q4 Brings?

Before Q4’s heavier revenue months arrive, your financial foundation needs to be clean: business and personal finances separated, bookkeeping current and accurate, and a clear picture of where your cash is actually going versus where you think it’s going.

Business owners who head into Q4 with a messy financial picture end up making decisions based on incomplete information, then spending December and January sorting it out, often with tax surprises they didn’t see coming.

The questions to answer right now:

• Is your bookkeeping current through at least the end of Q2?
• Are your business and personal finances cleanly separated? (If not, this is also a legal and tax problem.)
• Do you know your actual profit margin, not just your top-line revenue?
• Have you modeled a slower January? Q4 revenue doesn’t always carry through to Q1, and the business owners who plan for that arrive at the new year ahead.

The bottom line: Q4 rewards owners who arrive prepared. A clean financial picture in August gives you the runway to make smart decisions before the year closes, instead of reacting to surprises after it does.

LIFT: Tax

The Moves That Have to Happen Before December

Q3 is when key tax elections and setup decisions tend to cluster. Planning in August preserves time to model your choices, establish plans with earlier deadlines, run payroll correctly, and place qualifying property in service before year-end. These are steps that are much harder to execute well under December time pressure.

The moves to think through right now:

• Q3 estimated tax payment: The IRS third estimated-tax installment for 2026 is due September 15 for calendar-year individuals with income not adequately covered by withholding. Entity-level and state obligations vary. (IRS, “When to Pay Estimated Tax”: https://www.irs.gov/faqs/estimated-tax/individuals/individuals-2)

• Retirement contributions: Deadlines differ by plan type. A SEP-IRA can generally be established and funded by the business tax return deadline, including extensions. Solo 401(k) adoption and contribution deadlines depend on business structure, contribution type, and whether this is the plan’s first year. Confirm the applicable deadline with your tax and plan advisors. (IRS Publication 560: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p560)

• Equipment and asset purchases: Section 179 allows immediate expensing of qualifying property placed in service during the tax year, subject to eligibility, business-use requirements, taxable-income limits, phase-outs, and state conformity. Planning now gives you time to evaluate any purchase and receive the equipment before year-end supply delays become a factor.

• S-corporation compensation strategy: Shareholder-employees must receive reasonable compensation for services, which affects both payroll tax liability and eligible plan-contribution amounts. Set and document that compensation through payroll during the year with your tax advisor. Treating distributions as a substitute for wages is not a reliable approach under IRS reasonable-compensation rules. (IRS Fact Sheet FS-08-25: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/fs-08-25.pdf)

The bottom line: Q3 is when the most time-sensitive decisions need to be made, before December pressure builds. The earlier you engage your tax advisor and your attorney together, the more options you have.

Why This Review Is Harder to Do Alone Than It Looks

The challenge isn’t knowing these things matter. Business owners generally know they should be reviewing all four areas.

The challenge is that each area connects to the others. A tax election affects your retirement plan structure. Inadequate coverage can leave the business carrying risk your operating agreement never contemplated. The right advisor will look at your legal, insurance, financial, and tax picture as a connected whole, built around your specific business and life, not a generic checklist.

The bottom line: There’s no one-size-fits-all mid-year LIFT review. What works for one business owner can create problems for another. Having someone look at the full picture is why this review matters.

What You Can Do Right Now

August won’t last. Q4 is closer than it feels, and this planning window is genuinely limited.

As a Personal Family Lawyer® firm and LIFTed Advisors™ attorney, I look at your full business and personal picture through the LIFT system, identify where the gaps are, and map out what needs to happen and in what order.

Schedule a complimentary one-hour LIFT Business Breakthrough™ Session and let’s find out where you stand: 

15-Minute Discovery Call

This article is a service of Ganvir Law, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm and LIFTed Advisors™ Attorney. I offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices for your business throughout life and in the event of your death. I also offer a LIFT Business Breakthrough Session, which includes a review of all the legal, insurance, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call our office today to schedule.

The content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer for use by Personal Family Lawyer firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own, separate from this educational material.

© Ganvir Law 2026