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

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Pay-If-Paid vs. Pay-When-Paid: The Subcontract Clause That Decides Whether You Get Paid When the Owner Stalls

A pay-if-paid clause makes the owner's payment a condition precedent and shifts the full risk of owner nonpayment onto the subcontractor, while a pay-when-paid clause only sets timing and still obligates the general contractor. Courts enforce pay-if-paid only when the condition-precedent language is express, and at least eight states (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin) void it outright. This guide covers how to tell the clauses apart, what to negotiate before signing, the Miller Act's 90-day notice and one-year suit deadlines, and how to book contingent receivables so your aging report and cash forecast tell the truth.

mike

constructioncontractsaccounts-receivable

OpenTable's 2% Service Fee on No-Shows and Deposits: A Restaurant Guide to Booking and Reconciling Payouts

OpenTable now deducts 2% from no-show penalties, reservation deposits, and prepaid experiences, and lets U.S. restaurants absorb the fee or pass it to diners per cancellation policy. This guide shows how to book deposits at gross as a liability, expense the fee separately, run a six-step monthly payout reconciliation, and decide whether deposits still pay off after the fee.

mike

restaurantbookkeepingreconciliation

North Carolina Raised Its Sports Betting Tax to 23%: What Betting-Adjacent Small Businesses Must Track Now

North Carolina's 2026 budget raised the sportsbook tax from 18% to 23% of gross wagering revenue, added a 6% prediction-market tax effective January 1, 2027, and requires operators to report every bettor who wins more than $2,000 a year. Here is what bars, affiliates, vendors, employers, and bettors in the state need to record, reconcile, and calendar.

mike

gamblingtaxtax-compliance

The $15 Dispute: What the No Surprises Act's New IDR Rules Mean for Your Practice's Out-of-Network Revenue

The No Surprises Act's Federal IDR administrative fee fell from $115 to $15 per party for disputes filed on or after June 11, 2026, with the rest of the operations rule effective August 3, 2026. This guide walks a small medical practice through the arbitration timeline, why low-dollar out-of-network underpayments are now worth disputing, and how to book disputed receivables, dispute fees and awards so contested claims stop leaking revenue.

mike

healthcarehealth-insuranceaccounts-receivable

Are Your Lawsuit Settlement Proceeds Taxable? What the IRS Says About Every Dollar

Whether lawsuit settlement money is taxable depends on what the payment replaces. Compensatory damages for physical injury or sickness are tax-free under IRC Section 104(a)(2), while punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, back pay, and emotional-distress awards without physical harm are taxable. Learn how the attorney-fee gross-income trap, W-2 versus 1099-MISC reporting, and settlement-agreement allocation decide how much of the check you keep.

mike

taxlegaltax-planning

Indiana's 2026 Tax Amnesty Window Closes September 9: How to Clear Old Back Taxes Without Penalties or Interest

Indiana's Tax Amnesty 2026 runs July 15 through September 9, 2026 and waives all penalties, interest, and collection fees on DOR-administered taxes for periods ending before January 1, 2024, provided you pay in full or open a payment plan that is paid off by June 7, 2027. This guide covers the eligibility checklist (including the 2005/2015 prior-participant bar), the four-step INTIME process, five mistakes that void the waiver, and how to record the forgiven amounts in your books.

mike

taxtax-compliancetax-deadlines

Home Family Child Care Taxes: How the Time-Space Percentage, Standard Meal Rates, and Your Attendance Log Work Together

Family child care providers get two tax breaks most home businesses cannot claim. The daycare exception to the exclusive-use rule prorates rent, utilities, insurance and depreciation by a time-space percentage, and IRS standard meal rates ($1.66 breakfast, $3.15 lunch or dinner, $0.93 snack for the 2025 tax year) replace grocery receipts. This guide shows how to compute the space and time fractions (including setup, cleanup, cooking and paperwork hours), which expenses the percentage applies to, how to net CACFP reimbursements against food costs on Schedule C, and the one attendance-and-meal log that substantiates both deductions.

mike

childcaretax-deductionsself-employment

Holding Company vs. Operating Company: When Two Sets of Books Beat One

A holding company owns the assets and an operating company runs the business, but the liability firewall between them holds only if each entity keeps its own bank account, its own ledger, and documented intercompany loans, leases and settlements. This guide covers when the two-company structure pays off for a small business, when it is pure overhead, how to book intercompany transfers correctly, and why consolidated financial statements differ from the 80-percent-ownership consolidated tax return.

mike

business-structuresmall-businessbookkeeping

Furniture and Cabinet Tariffs Rise to 50% in 2027: A Retailer's Guide to Repricing Inventory Before the Hike

Section 232 duties on imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities double from 25% to 50% on January 1, 2027, and upholstered furniture rises to 30%. This guide walks retailers through per-SKU landed-cost math, classification review, supplier renegotiation, tiered price architecture, and the UNICAP rule that capitalizes duty into inventory so a pre-buy hits cash before it hits the deduction.

mike

tariffscustomsinventory

Florida's 2026 Sales Tax Holidays: New Dates, Item Caps, and a Retailer Compliance Checklist

Florida's 2026 omnibus tax bill (H7031E) moved the back-to-school sales tax holiday to July 20–August 20, added a September 1–December 31 hunting, fishing and camping holiday with no price cap on hunting supplies, and permanently exempted propane tanks of 20 lbs or less. This guide lists every item cap and location exclusion, explains the university-contractor and home-hardening refund programs, and gives Florida retailers a register-programming and bookkeeping checklist to stay audit-ready.

mike

sales-taxtax-complianceretail

Flipping Cars as a Side Hustle: Dealer License Limits, Curbstoning Laws, and the Books That Keep You Legal

How many used cars you can flip before your state calls you an unlicensed dealer (Illinois 4, Michigan 3, California no safe harbor, FTC Used Car Rule at 6), why title jumping is illegal everywhere, what curbstoning fines and dealer bonds cost, and how to keep per-VIN books that treat flips as Schedule C inventory subject to 15.3% self-employment tax.

mike

side-hustlelicensesbookkeeping

Fleet Fuel Cards for Small Business: The Purchase Controls That Stop Personal Fill-Ups Before They Start

Fuel theft and misallocation drain an estimated 5–15% of fleet fuel spend. This guide explains how fleet fuel cards from WEX, Fuelman, Ramp and others stop personal fill-ups with five controls — unique driver PINs, fuel-only product locks, dollar and time-of-day limits, mandatory odometer entry, and exception alerts — plus what the cards cost in fees versus rebates, when a cash-back business card is the better choice, and how card statements substantiate vehicle deductions under the standard mileage or actual-expense method.

mike

small-businessexpense-managementfraud-prevention
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