Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.
Americans spent a record $13.1 billion on Halloween in 2025, and seasonal stores capture about a third of it. This guide covers weekly cash forecasting, one-shot inventory buying, prepaid lease amortization, transient-vendor licensing, and stretching eight weeks of revenue across twelve months of bills.
The GENIUS Act of July 2025 created the first federal licensing regime for dollar-backed payment stablecoins, with full rules expected by January 2027. Small businesses gain seconds-fast, low-fee settlement — but every stablecoin receipt is property income with basis tracking, and broker sales are now reported to the IRS on Form 1099-DA.
Form SS-8 lets a business or a worker ask the IRS to rule on employee vs. contractor status under the common-law control test. The free determination takes at least six months, binds the IRS, and carries no appeal rights — here's when to file and what each side risks.
Section 45Z pays $0.20–$1.00 per gallon (pre-inflation) on fuel produced after 2025, but only if your Form 637 registration predates production, the feedstock is North American, and you use that year's emissions table.
Carrier billing errors cost shippers 3 to 5 percent of parcel spend, and late-delivery refunds expire 15 days after the invoice (FedEx) or scheduled delivery (UPS). This eight-point audit checklist covers service failures, duplicates, DIM errors, and bogus surcharges, plus a weekly routine that keeps claims inside the window.
Truthful, documented references are protected by truth, qualified privilege, and state immunity statutes. What to disclose, what to never say, and the two traps small businesses miss.
On a $25,000 domain sale, investor treatment costs roughly $3,750 while dealer treatment can exceed $9,000 — how Section 1221, the nine-factor hobby test, and per-name basis records decide which you are.
The defensive interval ratio divides cash, marketable securities and net receivables by daily cash operating expenses to state your runway in days. Half of small businesses hold under 15 buffer days — here is how to compute and lengthen yours.
Custom wig studios can bill medical clients under HCPCS code A9282 as a cranial prosthesis instead of a cosmetic wig sale — with insurance-ready invoices, physician prescriptions that unlock sales-tax exemptions, IRS Publication 502 deductions for clients, and separate books for cosmetic and medical revenue.
Public Act 26-73 takes effect October 1, 2026, requiring Connecticut employers to name specific monitored locations, post notices in each of them, and give new hires a plain-language statement. Penalties run $500 to $3,000.
Canada cancelled the two-thirds capital gains inclusion rate on March 21, 2025, but kept the $1.25M lifetime exemption — roughly $1,275,000 indexed for 2026. Here are the QSBC tests, CCA recapture, and 45(2)/45(3) elections that decide your bill.
Business casualty and theft losses skip the $100 and 10%-of-AGI floors, but are capped at adjusted basis, not replacement cost. How to measure the loss, handle insurance timing, and use the Section 165(i) prior-year election.
