Mike D'Onofrio

Highest and Best Use with Mike D'Onofrio

September 18th, 2025  |  35 mins 49 secs

Every business transaction has hidden tax opportunities waiting to be discovered, if you know where to look.

This week on the IC-DISC podcast, I spoke with Mike D'Onofrio from Engineered Tax Services, who's spent 17 years helping business owners maximize their tax strategies through engineering-based specialty tax services.

Mike joined ETS after working in corporate M&A and private equity, where he first recognized the critical need for specialized tax expertise during business transitions, and what struck me about Mike's approach is how his firm combines professional engineering expertise with tax strategy to deliver comprehensive solutions.

They handle everything from cost segregation studies and energy incentives to insurance optimization, processing hundreds of cost segregation studies weekly across every property type imaginable.

Mike's philosophy centers on what he calls "HABU" - highest and best use - focusing on their core expertise while partnering with specialists like us for complementary strategies that create immediate opportunities for businesses to improve cash flow.

The conversation reinforced something I've noticed across successful advisory relationships: the best results come from specialists who stay in their lane while building collaborative teams. Mike's emphasis on maintaining human intelligence alongside technology adoption resonated with my own experience that relationships still drive business success.