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Mike Thrift

Marketing Manager

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Iowa Now Offers One-Hour Business Filings: Your Guide to SF 629's New Expedited Tiers

Iowa's Senate File 629 took effect July 1, 2026, adding one-hour ($200) and same-day ($125) expedited tiers alongside the existing two-day ($50) and five-day ($15) surcharges for Secretary of State business filings. This guide covers which documents qualify, which are still excluded, how to pick the tier that matches your deadline, and how to book the surcharge as a Section 195 start-up cost at formation or a compliance expense afterward.

mike

small-businessincorporationllc

When Your EIN Gets Stolen: A Small Business Guide to IRS Letters 5263C, 6042C, and Business Identity Theft

IRS Letter 6042C verifies a specific business return; Letter 5263C verifies the entity itself on file from Form SS-4, and both carry a 30-day response window that, if missed, stalls your returns, refunds, and overpayment applications. This guide explains how thieves obtain an EIN, the tax and non-tax red flags that signal fraud, exactly what to fax back in each case, when Form 8822-B is required within 60 days of a responsible-party change, and a monthly-quarterly-annual monitoring routine that catches misuse early.

mike

small-businesstax-compliancesecurity

Minimum Wage Rose in 20+ Jurisdictions on July 1, 2026: A Multi-State Payroll Update Checklist

More than 20 state and local jurisdictions raised their minimum wage on July 1, 2026 — Alaska to $14.00, Oregon and D.C. on their annual schedules, plus 17 city and county increases across California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota and Oregon — lifting pay for over 360,000 workers by roughly $221 million a year. A seven-step checklist for employers who owe the highest rate where work is performed, including how to split a straddling pay period by work date rather than pay date.

mike

payrollcompliancesmall-business

New Jersey's $5,000 to $1.5 Million Data Broker Law: What Selling Customer Data Now Costs Small Businesses

New Jersey's A5328 (signed June 30 2026) charges $5,000 to $1.5 million a year to register as a data broker, and extends that regime to first-party 'data collectors' that sell data gathered from their own customers. Selling sensitive data is banned outright with no consent exception at $50,000 per record, effective immediately, while registration and fees are expected to be enforced from June 2027 under a $2,500-per-day penalty.

mike

complianceprivacyregulatory

Personal Training Studio Bookkeeping: Why That 12-Session Package Isn't Revenue Yet

An $840 twelve-session package is a liability, not income — you recognize $70 each time you deliver. This guide covers the deferred revenue journal entries, breakage and refund handling, the IRS control test that decides whether a trainer is W-2 or 1099-NEC, and the pricing math that shows a $70 package session leaving $40 after a $30 fixed-cost floor.

mike

bookkeepingdeferred-revenuerevenue-recognition

The 23% QBI Deduction Explained: What the Small Business Tax Cut Act Could Mean for Your Pass-Through Income

H.R. 8415 would raise the Section 199A qualified business income deduction from 20% to 23% — an extra $3,000 of deduction on $100,000 of QBI, worth $660 to $960 in tax depending on your bracket. Here is how the deduction works in 2026 after OBBBA made it permanent, which W-2 wage and SSTB limits still apply, and how to keep books that support the number you claim.

mike

tax-deductionstax-planningsmall-business

QuickBooks Desktop 2023 Support Ended May 31, 2026: Your Migration Checklist

QuickBooks Desktop 2023 hit end of support on May 31, 2026 — payroll tax tables stopped updating, bank feeds, Desktop Payments, direct deposit, e-filing, Workforce, online backup and security patches all shut off on June 1, while local company files still open normally. A pre-migration cleanup checklist, the three viable paths (QuickBooks Online, Enterprise, or a different platform), the Desktop-to-Online export steps, and the post-migration reconciliation that proves the ledger moved intact.

mike

quickbooksmigrationpayroll

Is a Remote Work Stipend Taxable? Accountable Plans, Substantiation, and What Lands on the W-2

A $75-a-month internet stipend paid without documentation is supplemental wages — reportable in W-2 Box 1 and costing the employer roughly 7.65% in matching payroll tax on top. The same $75 is tax-free and off the W-2 under a written accountable plan meeting all three tests in Treasury Regulation 1.62-2 — business connection, substantiation within 60 days, and return of excess within 120 days. This guide covers the two IRS paths, the five mistakes that flip a plan to taxable, the separate GL accounts and payroll pay types that keep the treatment straight, and the state statutes that require reimbursement regardless of federal tax treatment.

mike

remote-workaccountable-planpayroll

Is an 18% Service Charge a Tip? The IRS Four-Factor Test and What It Costs Your Restaurant Payroll

A mandatory service charge fails the IRS four-factor tip test, so it is wages rather than tip income — you owe both FICA shares on it, lose the Section 45B credit on Form 8846, and it is excluded from the new OBBBA qualified-tip deduction. Covers the four-factor test, the journal entries that keep Service Charge Revenue separate from Tips Payable, and the payroll, tip-credit, sales tax, and fee-disclosure changes a restaurant hits the day it switches.

mike

restaurantpayrolltax-compliance

When 5% of Your Customers Drive 40% of Your Returns: Serial Returners, Returns Reserves, and Refund Liability

ASC 606 treats a right of return as variable consideration, so an $80,000 sales month with a 9% historical return rate is $72,800 of net revenue, a $7,200 refund liability, and a recoverable-inventory asset — not $80,000 booked as final. This guide shows how to build a category-weighted reserve from 12 months of your own data, flag the 5 to 10% of buyers who generate 30 to 40% of returns, and apply graduated account limits that stay documented and defensible.

mike

ecommerceretailrevenue-recognition

The Silver Tsunami Is Here: How to Buy or Sell a Business in the $5 Trillion Great Ownership Transfer

About 6 million U.S. small and mid-sized businesses will change hands by 2035 as baby boomer owners retire, and McKinsey estimates more than 1 million of those are sellable, representing up to $5 trillion in enterprise value — yet only about 35% of owners have a succession plan. This guide covers the three-year seller timeline, how valuation multiples of 2x to 4x SDE are earned, SBA 7(a) and seller-financing structures for buyers, due diligence, and the bookkeeping habits that separate a sellable business from one that quietly closes.

mike

succession-planningbusiness-exitbusiness-valuation
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