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Bookkeeping

Modern bookkeeping techniques using plain-text and automated workflows

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13 min read

Renting Chickens for Six Months: How Seasonal Coop-and-Hen Rentals Pencil Out, and How to Book Them

A $600 six-month hen rental collected in May is not $600 of May revenue — it is roughly $100 recognized per month against a deferred revenue liability. How seasonal coop-and-hen rentals price ($425–$650 per package), what one really costs to fulfill (a $900 coop over four years adds about $112.50 per rental in depreciation), and the Schedule C, sales-tax, and KPI setup that keeps the season profitable.

Mike Thrift

seasonal-businessdeferred-revenuerevenue-recognition
13 min read

Can You Sue Your Accountant for Malpractice? What You Must Prove Before Filing a Claim

Accountant malpractice claims require proving duty, breach, causation, and damages — and the math is narrower than most clients expect: penalties caused by the error are typically recoverable, interest often is not, and tax you legally owed almost never is. State deadlines run two to six years, and an engagement letter's liability cap may limit recovery to the fees you paid.

Mike Thrift

legalliabilitycpa
11 min read

Switching Payroll Providers Before January 1: The Migration, Tax-Deposit, and W-2 Checklist to Start in October

A January 1 payroll cutover is the cleanest one because a single provider owns all four Forms 941, the Form 940, and every W-2 — but it takes roughly twelve weeks of prep. This checklist covers the October-to-January timeline, the year-to-date and fringe-benefit data that must migrate, Form 8655 authorization and revocation, and the five handoff mistakes that generate IRS notices.

Mike Thrift

payrolltax-compliancesmall-business
9 min read

Tunisia's 2026 Optional Flat Tax: 4,000–5,000 TND for Six Audit-Free Years — Should You Opt In?

Tunisia's 2026 Finance Law lets small businesses under 100,000 TND turnover pay a flat 4,000 or 5,000 TND a year — half that in rural zones — and skip tax audits for six years. The flat tax only beats the progressive schedule above roughly a 45% net margin in the lower bracket and 26% in the upper one; here is the break-even math, the eligible activities, and the four traps.

Mike Thrift

taxsmall-businessinternational-tax
12 min read

Weekly, Biweekly, or Semimonthly? Choosing a Payroll Schedule That Fits Your State's Payday Law

There is no federal pay-frequency law — states set the floor, and Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and New York are the strictest. Biweekly covers roughly 36–43 percent of private businesses, brings two three-paycheck months a year and a 27th payday in 2026; semimonthly's 24 uneven periods never align with the 7-day FLSA workweek that governs overtime.

Mike Thrift

payrollcompliancesmall-business
10 min read

The New AI Side Hustle: Bookkeeping and Quarterly Taxes for RLHF and Data-Labeling Gig Income

AI data-labeling and RLHF gig income arrives with nothing withheld, so annotators owe 15.3 percent self-employment tax plus income tax on every payout and must pay quarterly estimates by the 2026 deadlines. This guide covers the 1099-NEC and 1099-K thresholds, the 90/100/110 percent safe-harbor rules, Schedule C deductions most annotators skip, and a 20-minute-a-month bookkeeping system for multi-platform payouts.

Mike Thrift

side-hustleaiself-employment-tax
12 min read

Goat Dairy and Microdairy Bookkeeping: Pricing Milk, Cheese, and Soap From One Herd

A goat microdairy earns on a lactation curve but pays on a calendar. This guide shows how to keep separate enterprise books for fluid milk, cheese, and soap — using extension budgets of 1,650–1,800 lb of milk per doe per year, retail goat milk near $18 a gallon, the 10-pounds-of-milk-per-pound-of-cheese rule, and FDA's line between soap and a cosmetic claim.

Mike Thrift

agriculturefarmingsmall-business
13 min read

Do You Need a Music License to Play Spotify in Your Store? A 2026 Small Business Guide to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and the Section 110(5) Exemption

A personal Spotify plan is not a public-performance license. Playing it for customers exposes a business to statutory damages of $750–$30,000 per song ($150,000 if willful), while blanket licenses from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR run roughly $500–$2,000 a year and business music services cost $17–$60 a month per location. The Section 110(5) exemption covers only over-the-air radio and TV in establishments under 2,000 square feet (3,750 for food and drink), never streaming.

Mike Thrift

small-businesscompliancelicenses
13 min read

Security Camera and CCTV Installation Business Bookkeeping: Job Costing, Monitoring Revenue, and Truck Stock

A security camera installer runs three businesses out of one bank account — installs, monitoring contracts, and truck stock. This guide covers job-costing installs as separate equipment and labor buckets, booking monitoring fees as deferred revenue, cycle-counting truck inventory, budgeting licensing and certifications, and the eight monthly KPIs that decide what the company is worth.

Mike Thrift

small-businessbookkeepingjob-costing
14 min read

Soft Pretzel Shop Bookkeeping: Per-Batch Dough Costing, Food Cost Targets, and Kiosk vs. Storefront Math

A classic salted pretzel costs about $0.29 per unit once packaging and realistic yield are counted. This guide shows how to build per-batch recipe costing cards, hold a 28-35% blended food cost and 55-60% prime cost, book waste and samples honestly, and choose between a kiosk and a storefront with a break-even calculation instead of a gut feel.

Mike Thrift

small-businessbookkeepingcost-of-goods-sold
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