#compliance
Compliance
Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records
FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Rule Is Vacated: What All-Cash Closings Still Require in 2026
A federal court in the Eastern District of Texas vacated FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Reporting Rule nationwide on March 19, 2026, one day before it took effect, and FinCEN's May 18, 2026 FAQs confirm no Real Estate Report is required and no retroactive filing will be demanded if the Fifth Circuit reverses. The Geographic Targeting Orders were untouched and still bind title insurers in covered metros, so this guide covers the rule's three-part test (residential, non-financed, entity or trust buyer), the seven-step reporting-person cascade, and the intake, retention, and reinstatement-kit practices closing professionals should keep dormant rather than delete.
USCIS Form I-9 Deadline July 31, 2026: What Every Employer Must Update Before the New Edition Takes Over
Employers using electronic Form I-9 systems must update to the 05/31/2027 expiration date by July 31, 2026. This guide covers which editions stay valid, what changed in the 01/20/25 revision, the three-years-after-hire-or-one-year-after-termination retention rule, and which paperwork errors ICE now treats as substantive rather than technical.
The Free-Product Trap: What the FTC's Influencer Disclosure Crackdown Means for Small Businesses in 2026
Sending a creator a free product is a material connection under 16 CFR Part 255 even when you require nothing in return, and civil penalties now reach $53,088 per non-compliant post. This guide covers what triggers disclosure, why
Iowa Now Offers One-Hour Business Filings: Your Guide to SF 629's New Expedited Tiers
Iowa's Senate File 629 took effect July 1, 2026, adding one-hour ($200) and same-day ($125) expedited tiers alongside the existing two-day ($50) and five-day ($15) surcharges for Secretary of State business filings. This guide covers which documents qualify, which are still excluded, how to pick the tier that matches your deadline, and how to book the surcharge as a Section 195 start-up cost at formation or a compliance expense afterward.
Minimum Wage Rose in 20+ Jurisdictions on July 1, 2026: A Multi-State Payroll Update Checklist
More than 20 state and local jurisdictions raised their minimum wage on July 1, 2026 — Alaska to $14.00, Oregon and D.C. on their annual schedules, plus 17 city and county increases across California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota and Oregon — lifting pay for over 360,000 workers by roughly $221 million a year. A seven-step checklist for employers who owe the highest rate where work is performed, including how to split a straddling pay period by work date rather than pay date.
New Jersey's $5,000 to $1.5 Million Data Broker Law: What Selling Customer Data Now Costs Small Businesses
New Jersey's A5328 (signed June 30 2026) charges $5,000 to $1.5 million a year to register as a data broker, and extends that regime to first-party 'data collectors' that sell data gathered from their own customers. Selling sensitive data is banned outright with no consent exception at $50,000 per record, effective immediately, while registration and fees are expected to be enforced from June 2027 under a $2,500-per-day penalty.
QuickBooks Desktop 2023 Support Ended May 31, 2026: Your Migration Checklist
QuickBooks Desktop 2023 hit end of support on May 31, 2026 — payroll tax tables stopped updating, bank feeds, Desktop Payments, direct deposit, e-filing, Workforce, online backup and security patches all shut off on June 1, while local company files still open normally. A pre-migration cleanup checklist, the three viable paths (QuickBooks Online, Enterprise, or a different platform), the Desktop-to-Online export steps, and the post-migration reconciliation that proves the ledger moved intact.
Vermont Saves and New York Secure Choice: The 2026 Auto-IRA Rules for Small Employers
Vermont Saves reached employers with five or more workers on July 1, 2026, and New York Secure Choice finished its three-wave rollout on July 15, 2026. What each program requires, the penalties ($20 rising to $75 per employee in Vermont, $250 per employee per year in New York), and how to book the withholding as a payroll liability rather than an expense.
Virginia's New 5-Employee Discrimination Threshold: An SB 637 Compliance Guide
Effective July 1, 2026, Virginia's SB 637 drops the Virginia Human Rights Act employer threshold from 15 employees to 5 and extends the filing window from 300 days to two years. Any business with five or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks is now covered for every prohibited practice — not just discharge. Here is the 20-week counting rule, a seven-step compliance checklist, and the payroll and retention records an investigator asks for first.
Your Workers' Comp Premium Audit Is Coming: How to Pass Without a Surprise Bill
A workers' comp premium is payroll ÷ 100 × class rate × experience mod, so the year-end audit re-tests both variables against your actual records. This guide covers the three audit types and what triggers each, the documents auditors request, why overtime premium is only excludable when recorded separately by employee and week under NCCI Rule 2-B-2, the 2026 NCCI officer caps of $3,400 weekly maximum and $1,700 minimum, and why payments to a subcontractor without a current certificate of insurance get charged to you as payroll.
Cigar Lounge and Retail Tobacco Shop Bookkeeping: State Excise Tax, Humidor Inventory, and the Membership-Locker Revenue You Are Probably Booking Wrong
Premium cigar lounges pay OTP excise as a capped percentage of wholesale, carry humidor inventory at landed cost with FIFO or average costing, and must defer locker and membership fees as unearned revenue until each month is provided — separating all three keeps margins, taxes, and audits accurate.
New Jersey's New ABC Test Regulations Take Effect October 1, 2026: What Businesses Hiring Contractors Must Prove
New Jersey's ABC test regulations become operative October 1, 2026, clarifying that every worker is an employee unless you prove freedom from control, work outside your usual course or places of business, and an independently established trade — learn the three prongs, five common mistakes, and a pre-deadline audit checklist.