Blog

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

July 16, 20269 min read

The DOL's Fiduciary Rule Just Died Again: What Small Employers Running a 401(k) Need to Know Now

Texas federal courts vacated the DOL's Retirement Security Rule in March 2026, reverting fiduciary status for retirement advice to the 1975 five-part test — the second such rule struck down since 2018. Here's what 401(k) plan sponsors should check now: advisor fiduciary status in writing, compensation disclosures, and a documentation checklist, plus what the DOL's new alternative-assets safe harbor proposal means for small plans.

Mike Thrift

retirement-plansfiduciarycompliance

July 16, 20268 min read

A Divorce Mediator's Guide to Bookkeeping: Retainers, Referrals, and the Home-Office Deduction

Divorce mediators should book retainers as a liability until sessions are billed, claim the home-office deduction on genuinely low overhead, and track referral relationships with attorneys and therapists as a real marketing channel.

Mike Thrift

divorceself-employmentsmall-business

July 16, 20267 min read

Discord Server Subscriptions and the 1099-K: Why Your Tax Form Shows More Than You Were Paid

Discord issues 1099-Ks through Stripe reporting gross subscriber payments, not your net payout after the ~10% platform fee, Stripe processing, and app-store cuts. Here's how server owners reconcile the gap on Schedule C, what the restored $20,000/200-transaction federal threshold means for 2026, and the self-employment tax that applies either way.

Mike Thrift

taxtax-complianceself-employment-tax

July 16, 20269 min read

Disability Buy-Out Insurance: The Buy-Sell Agreement Gap Most Co-Owners Miss

A 35-year-old is six times more likely to become disabled than to die before 65, yet most buy-sell agreements only plan for death. How disability buy-out (DBO) insurance funds a co-owner buyout — elimination periods, cross-purchase vs. entity redemption, and why premiums are nondeductible but proceeds are tax-free.

Mike Thrift

business-insurancesmall-businesspartnerships

July 16, 20269 min read

The Deferred Sales Trust: How Business Owners Defer Capital Gains on an Exit Without a 1031 Exchange

A deferred sales trust lets a business owner spread capital gains tax from a sale over 10-20 years under IRC Section 453 with no like-kind reinvestment requirement, but setup and management fees commonly total $100,000-$300,000+ over a decade and the IRS has never issued formal guidance approving the structure.

Mike Thrift

taxtax-planningcapital-gains

July 16, 20267 min read

Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) Explained: The Number That Decides Your Business Loan

DSCR equals net operating income divided by total debt service. Most conventional lenders require at least 1.25, SBA programs 1.1 to 1.25, and a ratio below 1.0 is an automatic decline. Here is how to calculate yours, the mistakes that sink applications, and how to improve a weak ratio before you apply.

Mike Thrift

financial-ratiosbusiness-loanssba-loans

July 16, 20267 min read

Converting Personal Property to Business Use: Why Your Depreciable Basis Is Lower Than You Think

When you convert personal property to business use, IRS rules set your depreciable basis at the lower of adjusted cost or fair market value on the conversion date — and converted assets are ineligible for Section 179, though bonus depreciation and MACRS still apply.

Mike Thrift

depreciationtax-deductionssection-179

July 16, 20269 min read

Contribution Margin Explained: The Number That Tells You Whether a Sale Is Worth Making

Contribution margin is sales revenue minus variable costs — the per-unit number that drives pricing, break-even analysis, and product-mix decisions. Learn the formula, how it differs from gross margin, common calculation mistakes, and typical ratios by industry (70–90% for software, 25–50% for manufacturing).

Mike Thrift

accounting-basicsprofitabilityprofit-margins

July 16, 202610 min read

Contingency vs. Retained Search Bookkeeping: Why a 90-Day Replacement Guarantee Is a Refund Liability, Not a Freebie

Under ASC 606, a placement fee subject to a replacement-or-refund guarantee is variable consideration — recruiting firms should recognize only the historically-expected portion as revenue and hold the rest in a refund liability account until the guarantee window lapses.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingrevenue-recognitionliability

July 16, 20266 min read

Commercial Insurance Is Softening in 2026 — But Small Businesses Aren't Feeling It

In H1 2026, large commercial accounts saw premiums fall an average of 2.7% while small business accounts rose about 1.1%, driven by minimum-premium floors, catastrophe exposure, and hardening casualty rates offsetting property-side relief.

Mike Thrift

insurancebusiness-insurancesmall-business

July 16, 20269 min read

Colorado's New NICU Leave Benefit: What Small Employers Need to Know About FAMLI in 2026

Colorado's FAMLI program now offers up to 12 weeks of paid Neonatal Care Leave for NICU stays, separate from the existing 12 weeks of bonding leave, funded by a 2026 payroll premium of 0.88% of wages split between employer and employee for businesses with 10 or more workers.

Mike Thrift

payrolltax-compliancesmall-business

July 16, 20267 min read

CMS Prior Authorization Final Rule: What the 7-Day and 72-Hour Deadlines Mean for Medical and Dental Practices

As of January 1, 2026, CMS-0057-F requires Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA marketplace payers to decide prior authorization requests within 72 hours (expedited) or 7 calendar days (standard) and to give specific denial reasons — with FHIR-based prior auth APIs mandated by January 1, 2027. Here's what small medical and dental practices should do now.

Mike Thrift

healthcarecomplianceinsurance

Start Free→Documentation