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

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Flea Market and Secondhand Vendor Bookkeeping: When Your Weekend Booth Becomes a Real Business

Flea market and secondhand vendors owe Schedule C income tax plus 15.3% self-employment tax once net earnings pass $400, and most states require a seller's permit or transient vendor license for regular booth sales. This guide covers the Section 183 hobby-vs-business test, per-item cost-basis records that survive an audit, the state sales tax permit patchwork, and the 2026 thresholds for Form 1099-K ($20,000 and 200 transactions) and Form 1099-NEC ($2,000).

mike

bookkeepingside-hustlesmall-business

Failing Your Cyber Insurance Assessment? The MFA, EDR, and Backup Controls Insurers Demand in 2026

Cyber underwriters in 2026 condition or decline coverage on five control families — MFA on all email, remote and admin access, EDR on roughly 95% or more of endpoints, immutable backups with dated restore tests, patching and privileged-access hygiene, and an incident response plan exercised within 12 months. This guide lists the evidence each control needs, four methods for sizing limits against revenue, records, regulators and contracts, typical small-business premiums, and seven mistakes that fail assessments.

mike

business-insuranceinsurancesecurity

Crop-Share vs. Cash-Rent Farm Leases: Who Bears the Risk, Who Pays the Tax, and How to Keep the Books

Cash rent lands on Schedule E with no self-employment tax, but a crop-share landlord who pays half the inputs and advises the tenant can trip the material-participation test and owe 15.3 percent on Schedule F. How each lease splits yield, price, and input-cost risk, with a worked 160-acre example and the settlement records both landlord and tenant need.

mike

agriculturefarmingleases

Chase Business Checking Fees Rose in 2026: What the Increase Costs You and How to Waive It

Chase raised Performance Business Checking from $30 to $40 a month and Platinum from $95 to $103 in 2026, adding $120 and $96 a year. This guide lists the waiver thresholds ($2,000, $35,000 and $100,000 combined balance), shows when parking cash to dodge the fee costs more than paying it, and walks through a five-step audit of transaction, cash-deposit and wire charges.

mike

business-bankingbankingsmall-business

California SB 779 Raises Unlicensed Contracting Fines to a $1,500 Minimum: A Compliance and Bookkeeping Checklist for Contractors

California's SB 779, effective July 1, 2026, raised the minimum civil penalty for unlicensed contracting from $200 to $1,500 per violation, with a $15,000 cap, $30,000 for aiding unlicensed work, and inflation adjustments every five years. This guide explains the full penalty stack, including B&P Code 7031 disgorgement that lets clients recover every dollar paid, and gives contractors an eight-step compliance and bookkeeping checklist covering license verification, expiration calendars, subcontractor credential files and nondeductible fine accounting.

mike

constructioncompliancelicenses

Lockbox Banking vs. Remote Deposit Capture: How Small Businesses Should Collect Customer Checks

A lockbox sends customer checks to a bank-run P.O. box where staff scan and deposit them the same day and return a remittance data file; remote deposit capture lets you scan checks at your own desk under the Check 21 Act. This guide compares the two for small businesses by check volume, customer geography and cost (setup, monthly and per-item lockbox fees versus a $5 to $40 per month scanner plan), and covers same-day posting to receivables, original-check retention, deposit cutoffs and positive pay.

mike

bankingbusiness-bankingaccounts-receivable

Statutory Employees: The W-2 Workers Who File Like a Business

Statutory employees are the IRS hybrid class between contractors and employees — commission drivers, full-time life insurance agents, home workers, and traveling salespeople under IRC section 3121(d)(3). Employers withhold Social Security and Medicare but no income tax, issue a W-2 with Box 13 checked, and the worker deducts expenses on Schedule C without owing self-employment tax. Covers the four qualifying categories, the three FICA conditions, and the misclassification errors that trigger back taxes and penalties.

mike

payrolltax-compliancew-2-wages

Washington's Homeowner Recovery Program Is Live: How Contractors Should Reserve for Judgment Claims That No Longer Go Away

Since July 1, 2026, Washington homeowners can collect up to $25,000 of an unpaid contractor judgment from the state's Homeowner Recovery Program, after which L&I can pursue the contractor for reimbursement with interest on payment plans of up to 36 months. This guide explains the eligibility rules, the post-2024 bond levels of $30,000 general and $15,000 specialty, and how a residential contractor should log disputes, accrue probable losses under ASC 450, fund a separate cash reserve, and amortize a state repayment plan in a plain-text ledger.

mike

constructionsmall-businessrisk-management

SECURE 2.0 Auto-Portability and the December 31, 2026 401(k) Plan Amendment Deadline: What Small Business Sponsors Must Do Now

SECURE 2.0 Section 120 lets a departing employee's $1,000–$7,000 401(k) balance follow them into their next employer's plan through the Portability Services Network, and IRS Notice 2024-2 requires most calendar-year plans to adopt a consolidated SECURE 2.0 amendment by December 31, 2026. This guide covers how auto-portability interacts with force-out rules, what the amendment must memorialize, whether small employers should opt in, and the payroll, census and expense records to reconcile before year-end.

mike

retirement-plansemployee-benefitssmall-business
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