#small-business
Small Business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
New York's 2026 Cash Acceptance Law: Penalties, Exceptions, and Compliance Guide
New York's General Business Law § 396-ii took effect March 21, 2026, requiring statewide retailers and restaurants to accept cash and barring cash surcharges, with civil penalties up to $1,000 for a first violation and $1,500 for each one after.
Pricing a Bowl: Why the Diameter × Height Formula Hides Your Real Costs
The diameter × height × multiplier formula that most bowl turners use to price work ignores cracked blanks, drying time, and overhead — accounting them correctly as a separate spoilage loss (not folded into COGS) reveals whether a shop's pricing actually covers its real costs.
The SBA's 8(a) Program Just Dropped Its Racial Presumption: What the 2026 Rule Means for Federal Contractors
The SBA's June 11, 2026 proposed rule eliminates the 8(a) program's race-based social disadvantage presumption for individually owned firms, requiring every applicant to document group-level discrimination and personal material harm instead — with the public comment period closing July 13, 2026.
Sri Lanka's 18% Digital Services VAT: What Foreign SaaS and App Sellers Must Register For
Sri Lanka now charges 18% VAT on digital services sold by non-resident providers once revenue exceeds LKR 36 million a year or LKR 9 million in a quarter, effective July 1, 2026, with quarterly filing and registration due within three months of crossing the threshold.
State Privacy Laws 2026: Indiana, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and Texas Rules Small Businesses Must Know
Indiana, Kentucky, and Rhode Island's consumer privacy laws took effect January 1, 2026, and two have no revenue threshold — here's how small businesses determine if they're covered and how to track the revenue percentages these laws require.
What It Actually Costs to Sell Your Business: Broker Fees, the Lehman Formula, and Hidden Costs
Business brokers and M&A advisors charge Double Lehman commissions of 10% down to 2% by tier, but minimum fee floors, non-creditable retainers, expense reimbursement, and tail clauses routinely add 5-20% on top of the quoted success-fee percentage.
R&D Tax Credit for Small Business in 2026: How the Section 41 Payroll Offset Gives Startups Up to $500K Against Payroll Tax
Qualified research wages, supplies, and 65% of contract research generate a 14% ASC — and qualified startups can elect up to $500K per year against employer payroll on Form 8974.
Form 1099-NEC vs. 1099-MISC in 2026: $600 Thresholds, January 31 Deadlines, and the $50–$310 Per-Form Penalty Ladder
NEC is for services, MISC is for rent and royalties — both to recipients by Jan 31, but NEC also files to IRS by Jan 31. Miss it and the $60–$310 per-form ladder starts.
Pet Cremation Bookkeeping: Pricing Tiers, Veterinary Referral Splits, and Retort Depreciation
Pet cremation businesses run three revenue models at once (tiered cremation service, veterinary referral commissions, and merchandise sales), and the retort itself depreciates as 7-year MACRS equipment eligible for 100% bonus depreciation on property placed in service after January 19, 2025 — not as a 39-year building improvement.
Beneficial Ownership Reporting in 2026: Who Must File BOI With FinCEN, What Changed After the Court Challenges, and Late Penalties of $591 Per Day
The March 2025 interim final rule exempted domestic reporting companies — foreign-registered entities must still report within 30 days, update within 30 of any change, at $591 per day for willful failure.
Bookkeeping for Document Shredding & Data Destruction Businesses
A chart-of-accounts guide for document shredding and data destruction companies covering three revenue streams (route, purge, hard drive destruction), NAID AAA certification costs ($3,000-$5,000 first year), chassis-vs-shredder depreciation, and treating paper recycling rebates as revenue rather than an unreconciled deposit.
Crypto Taxes in 2026: Staking Rewards, Airdrops, Hard Forks, and Why Every Swap Is a Taxable Disposition
Staking, airdrops, and hard forks are ordinary income at fair value when you gain dominion and control — and every crypto-to-crypto swap is a sale with proceeds, basis, and gain.