#cost-of-goods-sold
Learn how to calculate and track cost of goods sold for inventory valuation
A tortilleria's masa cost per dozen moves about 5 cents when yield shifts 10 percent — the entire profit on a wholesale dozen. How to cost masa by measured yield, split retail and wholesale revenue and COGS, book presses and ovens under Section 179 or 7-year MACRS, and track the five KPIs that expose a losing route before the bank does.
Filament is often under a third of a 3D print's true cost. A six-layer costing method — filament, electricity, wear parts, failed prints, post-processing labor, and machine depreciation — shows why a $4.20 print really costs $15.32, and how to work backwards from Etsy's ~10–12% fees to a list price with a real margin.
Party deposits are a contract liability under ASC 606, not income — a $100 deposit stays in deferred revenue until party day, annual memberships spread over twelve months, and cafe sales carry food costs and separate sales-tax rules. How indoor playgrounds should split their books by revenue stream, handle breakage and state escheatment on unused passes, and track seven weekly KPIs from deferred-revenue balances to cafe attach rate.
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).
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.
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.
Ground beef hit about $6.75 a pound and steak $12.80 in May 2026, with the U.S. cattle herd at a 75-year low of 86.2 million head and relief unlikely before 2028. This guide shows restaurants and butcher shops how to recost every beef item, spread increases across the menu, move down the carcass, and track item-level margin after the change.
A returnless refund is a sales allowance, not a return. No inventory comes back, so nothing gets restocked and COGS stays put. This guide gives the per-SKU break-even math for when letting a customer keep a $40 item beats paying return shipping, the exact double-entry bookings for restocked returns, keep-it refunds and unsellable returns, the sales-tax posting, fraud guardrails, and the three metrics that show whether the policy is working.
A feed mill's books must separate customer-owned grain from mill-owned inventory, record custom-grind fees as service revenue rather than inflated purchases and sales, cost each batch from ingredient lots through COGS, and make shrink and moisture variances visible — this guide walks through the ownership test, four revenue streams, lot-level inventory records, and a 10-step month-end close.
How a screen-printing shop tracks blank garments and ink as job-level inventory, prices each additional color as a production change rather than extra ink, and sets a rework reserve from actual misprint history — plus a weekly close routine that ties deposits, job costs, and margins together.
Cash discounts like 2/10, net 30 can be recorded two ways — reduce purchases, or credit a separate discount account — and the IRS expects one method applied consistently. How each choice changes COGS, closing inventory, and year-end reconciliation for a retailer, plus an invoice workflow that keeps discounts from silently distorting margins.
A 100-pound batch of raw beef can yield just 42 pounds of sellable jerky. How small meat-snack makers turn measured dehydration loss into accurate per-ounce COGS, build a chart of accounts around batch production, and link ledger entries to the HACCP validation records FSIS requires.
