Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager
Commercial Insurance Rates in 2026: Which Lines Are Falling, Which Are Rising, and How to Negotiate Your Renewal
US commercial insurance premiums fell for the first time since 2017 — but only in some lines. Property is down up to 25%, cyber is soft, while general liability, commercial auto, and umbrella are still rising 7–15% on social inflation and $31 billion in nuclear verdicts. A line-by-line 2026 renewal guide with negotiation tactics for small businesses.
The $875 Billion Maturity Wall: A Small Business Guide to Refinancing Commercial Real Estate in 2026
Roughly $875 billion in commercial real estate loans mature in 2026 — about 17% of all outstanding commercial mortgage debt — with rates 150-250 basis points above origination. A practical guide for owner-occupiers and tenants, covering the financing gap, DSCR targets of 1.20x-1.35x, SBA 504/7(a) options, and a nine-month refinancing timeline.
Component Depreciation: Required Under IFRS, Optional Under GAAP — and When It's Worth It
Component depreciation splits a building or machine into parts with separate useful lives — mandatory under IFRS (IAS 16) for significant components, merely permitted under US GAAP. Here's how it prevents phantom depreciation after a roof or HVAC replacement, and how cost segregation studies and the partial asset disposition election capture similar benefits on the tax side.
California and New York Cap Construction Retainage at 5%: What Contractors Should Do for 2026
California's SB 61 caps private-project retention at 5% for contracts signed on or after January 1, 2026, and New York's S5655 voids any retainage clause above 5% on covered private contracts of $150,000+ as of December 19, 2025. Here's what changed, the carve-outs, and how contractors should track retainage receivable in their books.
The 150-Hour Rule Is Cracking: What New State CPA Pathways Mean for Small Businesses
Roughly 42 U.S. states have passed or are advancing laws replacing the CPA 150-hour education rule with 120 hours plus experience — Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, Utah, and Iowa lead in 2026. Here's how the accountant shortage, new licensure pathways, and fractured license mobility affect who small businesses can hire.
The Swipe Fee Lawsuit That Could Backfire on Merchants: Corner Post, Regulation II, and What Small Businesses Should Do Now
A North Dakota truck stop sued to lower debit card swipe fees — and in August 2025 a federal court vacated Regulation II's 21-cent interchange cap entirely. Here's how the Corner Post case reached the Eighth Circuit, the three ways it could end, and how small businesses can prepare for fees moving in either direction.
eBay's 2026 Fee Overhaul: Flat Rates, a 5% Refurbished Discount, and the Math Resellers Should Run
On July 1, 2026, eBay replaced tiered final value fees with flat category rates for commercial sellers on its European marketplaces — roughly 7–14% on new goods and a flat 5% on used and refurbished items. Depending on price band, the change can cut or raise your fees, so here's a 90-day audit to run against your own sales data.
The $15 Million Estate Tax Exemption: What OBBBA Means for Business Succession Planning
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act permanently raised the federal estate and gift tax exemption to $15 million per person ($30 million per couple) starting in 2026, eliminating the scheduled TCJA sunset to roughly $7 million. Here's what changed, which existing plans are now outdated, and the succession moves business owners should make — from portability filings to buy-sell agreement reviews and state estate tax exposure.
Expensify's MCP Server: What Connecting an AI Assistant to Your Books Actually Means
Expensify launched an MCP server on June 8, 2026, letting Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor query live expense data via OAuth 2.1. Here is what Model Context Protocol means for small business books, which access questions to check before connecting — read-only vs. write, revocability, data retention — and why clean records matter more in the AI era.
Ireland's Self-Employed Tax Guide for 2026: Form 11, Preliminary Tax, and the PRSI Rate Rise
Irish sole traders filing Form 11 in 2026 face a mid-year PRSI Class S rise from 4.2% to 4.35% on October 1, a €650 minimum PRSI charge, and the preliminary tax rule requiring 100% of prior-year or 90% of current-year liability by October 31 — with a ROS extension to mid-November for those who file and pay online.
Med Spa Bookkeeping: How to Handle Injectable Inventory, Injector Commissions, and Membership Revenue
A practical bookkeeping guide for med spa owners covering the industry's hardest problems — tracking expiring injectable inventory with FIFO and treatment recipes, calculating 15–25% injector commissions from provider-level revenue, deferring membership and package revenue until services are delivered, and building a chart of accounts that shows which service lines actually carry margin.
Mobile Pet Grooming Bookkeeping: Van Depreciation, Per-Appointment Costing, and the Fuel Line Owners Underbudget
How mobile pet groomers should book a $35,000–$80,000 grooming van — splitting chassis from buildout for depreciation and Section 179, building a five-component per-appointment cost model, and budgeting fuel and maintenance against the 76-cent 2026 IRS mileage rate.