Skip to main content

Blog

Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.

Browse by tagView all authors
11 min read

Can You Require Direct Deposit? State Consent Rules, Paycards, and the Federal Line You Cannot Cross

Federal law lets an employer require direct deposit but never lets it pick the employee's bank. Most states additionally require voluntary written consent, and Florida and Montana prohibit mandates outright. A three-bucket state breakdown, the five paycard conditions, the authorization-form fields to capture, and the rollout sequence that keeps an electronic-pay switch out of wage-claim territory.

Mike Thrift

payrollcompliancesmall-business
9 min read

California's New 5% Retention Cap: What Contractors Must Change About Retainage in 2026

California SB 61 caps retention on private construction contracts signed on or after January 1, 2026 at 5% per progress payment and 5% of the contract price in total, down from the 10% industry norm — here is who it covers, the residential and bonding exceptions, and how to rebuild your retainage receivable schedule so the freed-up cash actually reaches your account.

Mike Thrift

constructioncash-flowcalifornia
9 min read

Bridal Makeup Artist Bookkeeping: How to Track Your Kit, Travel Fees, and Wedding-Season Cash Flow

A working bookkeeping system for freelance and bridal makeup artists — separate business accounts, retainers recorded as liabilities until the wedding day, kit split into consumables versus equipment, mileage logged at the 2026 IRS rates of 72.5 and 76 cents per mile, and a peak-season reserve sized to cover the roughly six quiet months outside the May–October wedding window.

Mike Thrift

beautyfreelancebookkeeping
11 min read

Austin's New STR Rules Put Your Listing on a 10-Day Clock: A Host's Compliance and Bookkeeping Guide

Since July 1, 2026, Airbnb and Vrbo must verify Austin STR license numbers, refuse unlicensed bookings, and remove flagged listings within 10 days of city notice, with fines up to $500 per day. Here are the license costs ($836.30 new, $385.30 renewal, two-year term), the 17% occupancy-tax stack, the quarterly filings platform collection does not cover, and the per-property books that keep it provable.

Mike Thrift

real-estateproperty-managementtax-compliance
13 min read

Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors: The Faster, Quieter State-Law Alternative to Chapter 7

An assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC) lets an insolvent business liquidate under state law in months rather than a year, with an assignee the owner chooses instead of a court-appointed trustee — but it carries no automatic stay and no debt discharge. Here is how the five-step process works, how it compares to Chapter 7, and the bookkeeping that keeps a wind-down orderly.

Mike Thrift

business-closurebusiness-exitsmall-business
10 min read

Air Duct and Dryer Vent Cleaning Bookkeeping: Price Per Vent, Track Every Upsell, Depreciate the Rig

Residential duct cleaning runs roughly $25–$50 per supply vent (about $75 for returns) and dryer vent add-ons average $145, so a one-line invoice hides your margin. This guide itemizes base fees, vent counts and add-ons, costs the four buckets behind each job, capitalizes a $9,000 vacuum rig instead of expensing it as supplies, and tracks the five KPIs — revenue per vent, revenue per tech-hour, upsell attach rate, callback rate, revenue per truck per day — that decide whether the next rig pays for itself.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businesstrades
8 min read

Wales Business Rates 2026: The Three-Tier Multiplier and the £116M Transitional Cushion

From 1 April 2026 Wales replaced its single non-domestic rates multiplier with three — 0.350 for retail under £51,000 rateable value, 0.502 standard, 0.515 above £100,000 — and is phasing revaluation increases above £300 at 33% in 2026-27 and 66% in 2027-28 with £116 million of transitional relief. Here is how to check which multiplier applies, verify the relief line on your bill, and budget the pre-programmed step-ups.

Mike Thrift

tax-compliancesmall-businessretail
8 min read

Trump Accounts and ERISA: How to Offer the $2,500 Employer Contribution Without Creating a Plan

DOL Technical Release 2026-02 says employer Trump Account contribution programs generally are not ERISA pension plans, provided participation is voluntary and the employer adds no conditions, investment influence, ERISA claims, or extra consideration. This guide covers the four conditions, how the $2,500 per-employee and $5,000 per-child caps interact, and the payroll coding that keeps both reconciled.

Mike Thrift

employee-benefitspayrollcompliance
10 min read

When a TPS Work Permit Expires: A Restaurant Employer's I-9 Reverification and Payroll Playbook

Haiti and Syria TPS employment authorization documents have lapsed after a summer of shifting USCIS dates, and continuing to schedule an affected worker exposes a restaurant to per-worker penalties under INA section 274A. This guide covers the Form I-9 Supplement B reverification sequence, the five mistakes that turn paperwork into a discrimination claim, and how to book the overtime, temp-agency, and recruiting costs of rebuilding a roster.

Mike Thrift

restaurantpayrollcompliance
Start Free→Documentation