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

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9 min read

New York's Gig Delivery Worker Law: What the $22.13 Pay Floor, Tip Rules, and Weekly Payouts Mean for Your Restaurant's Books

New York City's app-based delivery rules — a $22.13 hourly courier pay floor for pay periods beginning on or after April 1, 2026, tipping offered at checkout with a 10% suggested minimum, and weekly itemized payouts — change what a restaurant has to record. Book gross marketplace sales, itemize every platform fee, run tips through a liability account that ends at zero, and the January 1099-K reconciles itself.

Mike Thrift

restaurantsmall-businessbookkeeping
9 min read

How to Negotiate Better Payment Terms With Vendors and Free Up Your Cash Flow

Vendor payment terms are negotiable working capital — top-performing companies take 46+ days to pay while bottom performers pay in 27. This guide covers what to ask for (extended net terms, milestone deposits, installment schedules), how to time and frame the ask as a win-win, the early-pay discount math (skipping 2/10 net 30 implies a 35%+ annualized cost), and how to track negotiated terms, AP aging, and DPO in your books.

Mike Thrift

cash-flowaccounts-payableworking-capital
9 min read

Missouri's Paid Sick Leave Whiplash: What Employers Should Track After the Prop A Repeal (and Before the 2026 Ballot Rematch)

Missouri's paid sick leave mandate took effect May 1, 2025 and was repealed effective August 28, 2025, while the scheduled $15.00 minimum wage still arrives January 1, 2026. Here is how to close the 17-week accrual window in your books, keep the payroll codes dormant instead of deleting them, and stay ready for the 2026 ballot rematch.

Mike Thrift

payrollcomplianceemployee-benefits
13 min read

Keeping Millions Fully FDIC-Insured at One Bank: How ICS and CDARS Reciprocal Deposits Work

FDIC insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category — so an $800,000 business account leaves $550,000 uninsured. Reciprocal deposit networks like IntraFi's ICS and CDARS split a large balance into under-limit chunks across thousands of member banks while you keep one relationship and one statement. Here are the mechanics, the costs, ICS vs. CDARS, the overlap trap that quietly leaves money uninsured, and the bookkeeping that proves your coverage.

Mike Thrift

bankingbusiness-bankingtreasury-management
11 min read

Illinois Just Rewrote Its Pawnbroker Law: What the Auto-Title Ban and New Reporting Rules Mean for Your Shop's Books

Illinois replaced its pawnbroker statute with the Pawnbroker Regulation Act of 2023, ending auto-title advances under a pawn license, capping active licenses at 250 statewide (150 in specified populous counties), and adding electronic police reporting plus aggregate data collection. Here is how to structure a pawn shop's chart of accounts, book forfeitures at lower of cost or net realizable value, and run off title-secured balances separately.

Mike Thrift

complianceconsumer-protectionloans
9 min read

How Often Must You Pay Employees? The State Payday Rules That Override Your Payroll Schedule

No federal law sets private-sector pay frequency, so each state sets its own floor — New York requires weekly pay for manual workers, North Carolina permits monthly, and Florida sets no private-sector minimum. This guide covers the four state buckets, lag-time caps such as California Labor Code section 204, per-employee penalties, and how to change a payroll schedule without delaying wages.

Mike Thrift

payrollcompliancelegal
10 min read

House Hacking Taxes: How to Split Your Duplex Between Schedule E and Home (and Keep the Section 121 Exclusion When You Sell)

A house hack is two tax properties under one roof — a Schedule E rental and a Schedule A home. Split shared costs by a documented percentage, depreciate only the rental half over 27.5 years, use up to $25,000 of rental losses against wages below $100,000 MAGI, and expect unrecaptured Section 1250 gain at up to 25% on prior depreciation when you sell.

Mike Thrift

real-estatetax-planningdepreciation
12 min read

Hiring a Public Adjuster After Property Damage: Fees, License Checks, and Booking the Settlement

Public adjusters work for the policyholder, not the insurer, and typically charge 5%–15% of the settlement, with many states capping standard claims near 15%–20% and declared-disaster claims near 10%. This guide covers verifying a license and surety bond, which fee structures to question before signing, and how to book proceeds — claim receivable, gain or loss against net book value, and business-interruption income recognized at settlement.

Mike Thrift

insurancesmall-businessrisk-management
13 min read

Financial Infidelity When You Run a Business Together: A Transparency System for Co-Owner Couples

Bankrate's January 2026 survey found 43% of U.S. adults consider financial secrecy at least as bad as physical cheating, and 40% of adults in live-in relationships admit to a money secret. For couples who co-own a business, a hidden card or debt also distorts pricing, payroll and joint tax liability — here are the bookkeeping controls, monthly review cadence and entity rules that make transparency structural rather than voluntary.

Mike Thrift

family-businesssmall-businessbookkeeping
10 min read

That "Official" Compliance Letter Probably Isn't From the Government: How to Spot Business Imposter Mailers

Private companies mail new LLCs and corporations official-looking notices charging $110 for $10 state filings, $125 for meeting minutes no state requires, and $89 for labor law posters the government gives away free. A 60-second checklist separates real government notices from solicitations, with steps to reverse a payment you already made.

Mike Thrift

fraud-preventionsmall-businesscompliance
10 min read

Donating Your Old Work Truck or Van? Why the Deduction Is the Sale Price, Not Blue Book

Since 2005, the IRS has limited most vehicle donation deductions to the charity's actual sale proceeds reported on Form 1098-C — not Blue Book value. This guide covers the $500 and $5,000 paperwork thresholds, the three exceptions that allow full fair market value, and why a fully depreciated work truck can produce a $0 deduction plus taxable recapture income.

Mike Thrift

charitable-givingtax-deductionstax-planning
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