Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.
Schedule 1-A is the new IRS form for tax years 2025-2028 holding four below-the-line deductions — up to $25,000 for tips, $12,500/$25,000 for the FLSA overtime premium, $10,000 for new-car loan interest, and $6,000 per person age 65+. Each phases out on its own MAGI threshold, and this guide covers who qualifies, how the math works, and what records defend the claim.
Parks earn their margin in the ledger. Submetering or RUBS recovers 80-100% of variable utility costs and typically lifts net income 20-30%, and a cost segregation study reclassifies 40-60% of depreciable basis into 5- and 15-year property that now qualifies for 100% bonus depreciation. This guide covers gross-up bill-back accounting, lot rent vs. home rent separation, intercompany flows between holding and management entities, Form 8594 allocation, and a monthly close checklist for manufactured home and RV parks.
Under IRC Section 197, a liquor license is an intangible you must capitalize and amortize straight-line over 180 months starting the later of acquisition or opening month — no bonus depreciation, no shorter life, no half-month convention. Routine annual renewal fees paid to the state to maintain a license you already hold are generally deductible in the year paid. This guide covers what belongs in basis, the journal entries, Form 8594 allocation when you buy a bar, and five bookkeeping mistakes that misstate hospitality books.
The IRS normally has three years from the filing date to assess additional tax under IRC 6501(a), six years if you omit more than 25% of gross income, and unlimited time if you never filed or filed fraudulently. Parallel clocks run alongside it - 10 years to collect, 3 years to claim a refund, 4 years for employment tax records, and property basis until disposition plus 3 - which is why most CPAs tell small businesses to default financial records to six years.
The federal FLSA salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions is still $684 a week ($35,568 a year) in 2026 after the 2024 DOL rule was vacated and rescinded, but six states set higher floors - Washington $1,541.70/week, California $1,352.00, New York $1,275.00 in the NYC metro and $1,199.10 elsewhere, Colorado $1,057.69, Alaska $938.40, and Maine $871.16. The threshold that applies is the one for the state where the work is performed, and a failed classification exposes two years of unpaid overtime (three if willful) plus liquidated damages that double the recovery.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers consumer debt collected by third parties, so it does not govern a business chasing its own overdue B2B invoices — contract law, UCC Article 2, and state unfair-practice statutes do. This guide explains the two FDCPA tests most commercial receivables fail, and gives a five-step recovery sequence from contract clauses and a follow-up cadence through demand letter, small claims or a 15–40% contingency agency, and judgment enforcement.
How to book a cold plunge and sauna recovery studio from presale to full capacity — founding-member cash held as deferred revenue under ASC 606, a $110,000–$250,000 build-out split between Section 179 equipment and 15-year qualified improvement property, and the three utilization KPIs (plunge occupancy, revenue per plunge-hour, churn by wait-time cohort) that show whether another chiller pays.
A contract-level bookkeeping system for cleaning and janitorial businesses—job costing by contract, a payroll-to-revenue dial that says when you can hire, and a 10-minute supply inventory method—so you can bid with real numbers and spot losing contracts before they drag the quarter.
Business Overhead Expense (BOE) disability insurance reimburses a business for fixed costs — rent, staff payroll, utilities, leases — when the owner can't work due to illness or injury. It excludes the owner's own salary, pays 12 to 24 months after a 30-, 60-, or 90-day elimination period, and typically costs 1% to 3% of the monthly benefit per year. Premiums are deductible; benefits are taxable to the business.
Seventeen states run back-to-school sales tax holidays in summer 2026, from Florida's 32-day window to Iowa's Friday-Saturday weekend, each with its own price caps — $75 clothing in Ohio, $300 in Connecticut, $40 on Maryland backpacks. Participation is mandatory for most registered retailers, and destination sourcing means online sellers with nexus must honor the holiday of the delivery state.
An Amazon FBA reserve is money Amazon owes you, not a fee — book the withheld settlement as a current asset (Amazon Reserved Balances), not a P&L expense, so revenue is not understated and bank reconciliation ties.
AI meeting notetakers can trigger all-party consent rules in roughly a dozen states and create voiceprints regulated by Illinois BIPA, which carries $1,000 per negligent and $5,000 per intentional violation with no proof of harm required. This guide maps the consent rules, the three things BIPA requires before a voiceprint exists, and a six-step settings, consent, and retention playbook for teams under 50 people.
